Fashion GorJess Blog

For a self-confessed social media butterfly (or addict for want of a better word) I still struggle to keep up with all the social networking sites. From creating filtered pictures on Instagram to Facebook statuses and tweeting, there is barely enough time in the day for real life.

Or is what our 'real' life has become? I was at an 11 year old's birthday party recently and every single one of them were sitting around the table glued to their smart phones, not speaking a word to each other. Just last weekend I was at a wedding and as I glanced across the aisle, sure enough the entire row were on their phones..in a church! Even I am not that bad, although I am not one to talk, I am a prime culprit of online addiction and Facebook is a part of my everyday life. It's a habit, pick up the phone and check emails, text messages and Facebook.  I often find myself having a conversation with someone in which I will tell them something and their response is... 'Oh yes I saw that on Facebook.'



I am totally addicted to my iPad and iPhone, constantly checking my WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and more recently Twitter. But it is just so hard to keep up with them all, I still keep forgetting to update my Twitter as I am quite new to the world of tweeting #latestarter. Any time I told someone before that I wasn't on Twitter, I got this look of disdain and response 'Really?'

Yes the social media world is quite bitter/sweet, you want that constant reassurance from people (half of whom you don't know) 'Woohoo! I got 100 likes on my status!' Yet it is the very same thing that makes us feel bad about ourselves. We all do it, get jealous of the person always away on holiday, or the girls with the gorgeous figures, clothes, family. We can spend our life getting jealous but at the end of the day.. who is going to put up a picture of them having a 'fat day' or looking glum while on holiday. Social media is aimed at making everything look great and making us feel, a lot of the time, inadequate.

Then there are the socially awkward people who seem to just come alive online and would nearly get hit by a car to avoid you when you actually meet them in real life. So is this what we are going to evolve to eventually, a bunch of 'keyboard warriers' as my boyfriend calls them, in other words people who are brave when they are behind the safety of a computer screen but shrivel up when faced with having a conversation with someone face-to-face...

But I have to admit it, nothing feels better than picking up your phone after coming out of a meeting or waking up in the morning, and seeing that screen in all it's glory with lots of notifications. You've been send 8 new whatsapp messages, four new people have started following you on Instagram, and you have new photo comments on Facebook.

You know how the saying goes... 'If you can't beat them join them...' And if you don't like them, just press the 'block' button!