“The Internet is still the greatest platform to lie to the largest group of people.”

Zor, How to Slack Your Way to Success

I wrote those words in 2008 and eleven years later, stand behind them with even more fervor.

We’re awash in a world where the mental health of young people are spiraling downward while we sit at the tail-end and try to catch them. Perhaps provide them strategies, tools or counselling.

However, it would be unfair to categorize this problem to just one group. They’ve been identified because they are surrounded by adults who can see what’s happening, but what about the rest?

There’s been enough articles and research to show the parallel trends between smart phone usage and this recent spike, but I look at the content itself.

Carefully curated social media posts, highly edited videos and exaggerated (if not false) benefits of processes. Life-edited snippets meant to convince the person on the other end this is how it always is.

Attention spans are shorter and more work is done to make each consumed digital slice more exciting to see. Is it any wonder people look up from these examples and feel an emptiness to their own life?

It’s akin to showing the actors and actresses on the red carpet during the Oscars and saying that’s what life is like for them all the time. That’s what you get to do and see how happy you could be as a result.

What do you think would happen if we saw the real story?