Above image: Pan Xunbin / Shutterstock.com

Have you done your obligatory mindless Facebook scrolling today? Let’s not pretend it doesn’t happen. You see all the updates from everyone else and you feel bad about your own life. Even if your life is awesome, you still compare your status updates, photos and what-have-you to everyone else’s and feel inadequate. That’s why when I watched the short film by Shaun Higton called What’s on your mind? I knew I had to share it with all of you.

Humblebragging is a thing now, especially on Facebook. What is it? Oh, the casual mentioning of just how awesome your life is – regardless of whether or not it’s true (as you saw in the video). If you find yourself getting jealous over the lives of your Facebook friends, then here are some ways to keep centered and prevent that from happening:

It’s not the whole story

You only see the snapshot, or the status update. And that means nothing. You don’t see all the shitty stuff that might be happening in that person’s life. The hours of being bored in an office or the commute or whatever they’re not writing and sharing. Personally, I won’t update my Facebook with photos of me writing, being a sloth, being boring. Uh hello?? That’s what humblebragging is all about. You only give the good stuff. Or you make it look like it’s good stuff. Just like the video, many times you arrive some place to quickly take a photo for Instagram or Facebook and off you go. So it might be hard to at the moment, but bear in mind that that photo does not tell the whole story.

A Facebook Life Isn’t That Awesome

Stop Scrolling

Honestly, Facebook is such a time-suck. How many times have I gone on Facebook to do something work related and ended up spending an hour just scrolling my news feed. But I get it, it’s has an unholy calling. It’s almost impossible to stop scrolling. But resist my padawans. Resist!

Don’t get on first thing in the morning

This is probably the biggest productivity killer. Getting on Facebook the first thing in the morning not only sucks the life out of you (true story), it can also set you up to have a crappy day. Imagine you wake up and you feel great about your day and your life in general and then you get on Facebook and it seems like everyone else is having a f*cking riot of a life. Suddenly your mood plummets and you start to feel bad about your own life. Well, it’s not you; it’s the Facebook Effect. So do yourself a favor and just skip Facebook in the mornings.

Give yourself a time limit

Set an alarm and give yourself a time limit for just how long you can be on Facebook. I know, hard, right? But it’ll mean that you have to get off after the timer is done and that will lessen the amount of scrolling you’re doing.

A Facebook Life Isn’t That Awesome

Never leave Facebook open

This just means you will reflexively keep checking your page. It’s a recipe for disaster I’m telling you. Limit how often you go to Facebook a day. And after you check your feed or notifications or whatever else you do, close the page or the app.

Focus on what matters

You. You matter. Even if you think your life sucks, comparing it to other people’s (false) Facebook lives is not doing you any favors. The only person you should be comparing yourself to is you. Ask yourself, “Am I better today than yesterday?” Because that is the only true measure of improvement. Focus on yourself and make yourself better each day.

Hopefully these little tips will help you overcome the Facebook Effect and live a healthier and happier life! Do you think that you have the Facebook Effect? Let me know in the comments.

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