Laura Turner on How Twitter Fuels Anxiety

Using Twitter, I am constantly comparing my insides—my anxieties, fears, and insecurities—with other people’s outward selves: their accomplishments, polished selfies, and edited articles.

You see. We all know this. We all pick the best photos, apply the best filters, and also some use god awful filters that look nothing like them. Yet we don’t see to extrapolate this to others.

The anxiety fuelled by social media is often predicated on the comparison of the expression of others lives to our own. Yet nothing is real! For much of the web, inner selves are not the ones that are on display. The constant battle to win approval by making yourself as appealing, approachable and inoffensive is a pressure felt by all but ignored in equal amounts.

Constant observation is a way of life for some and the next generation looks set to be worse. We have become so used to look at other peoples lives so much that we expect our own to be under the same scrutiny.