there is no perfect picture | Tech Reddy

Instagram vs. Reality: there is no such thing as a real picture

I’ll never forget the time I cried for the elf.

No, I’m not so green with envy for someone’s amazing Elf on a Tablet setup that I throw my phone into a burning yule tree in the dark. I just forgot to move the damn thing. After a long mid-December night filled with EVERYTHING, I pulled my tired bones into bed to drift off while scrolling through funny holiday memes and videos dog in Santa clothes. However, when I opened Instagram, an elf fit for the wall at MoMa hit me, reminding me of my inability to move my family’s elf, Lollipop. By then, I was so tired and so comfortable in my warm bed that the mere thought of waking up to something – a terrifying elf with magical powers – made me cry.

I don’t really blame Instagram for my small part. But let’s face it, nobody cares about that darn elf if it’s not on social media. Of course, they don’t brush their teeth, steal Christmas lights, drive Tonka trucks, or engage in any of the hijinx that parents like to post pictures of throughout the season. In those villages, the elf (or elves!) go on nightly, well-written journeys. In my house, he usually just moves from one boring place to another.

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Chances are high that you are someone who moves their family elf like me. Most of us — the ones who bothered to get one in the first place — don’t really think about where he’s going every night.

Some of us don’t remember to move him! We go to sleep without thinking about the magic toys that have the power to destroy the whole morning. And after that morning is over, you get word in the evening that your child’s friend’s elf starred in his own Nutcracker ball the night before. You check their mom’s insta and yup, there it is – complete with dancing sugar plum fairies, wooden soldiers and more. Suddenly you’ll be very sad when your elf spends the third night collecting dust on top of the kitchen cupboards.

Raising children is always hard work. But the new generation of parents seems to be facing new challenges that their forefathers could never have imagined. Today, there is no doubt about social media.

Every year, on the evening of December 24th, I prepare for the endless scrolling of wrapped packages as far as the eye can see, as moms and dads proudly present the presents and tear them open. their kids the next morning (there’s a video. That was posted too, I’m sure). Parents mean well; they are proud of themselves for giving their children another wonderful Christmas. And they should be, of course. But no matter how hard you work all year to make your own family’s Christmas – or Hanukkah – perfect, you’ll probably end up with a bunch of photos that are too small. Someone does a better job. More gifts, stuffed trees, beautiful decorations, beautiful wrapping paper, toys, whatever.

We must remember that things are not always as they appear on the screen, or in this case, on the instagram page.

I have a photo on my own Instagram from a few Decembers ago of my daughter tearing up a basket on Christmas morning. I think it’s a LOL Doll type, the toy is at the top of her wish list. She looks gorgeous in the photo – in candy-colored pants and a high ponytail, her mouth agape with excitement and glee as she unwraps her gift. But I hate that picture.

In the background of the photo, his father is sitting on the steps, far away from me. We had just decided to leave a week ago and every time I see her happy face in that picture I remember the many sad faces that followed in the months that followed. coming soon as our family is going through a divorce.

Sorry to go all Debbie Downer there for a moment but I’m just trying to point out that every picture you see plastered on someone’s social media page has a story behind it – it’s probably never even read. want the world to see.

This holiday season, instead of letting Instagram fuel your sadness, try letting it roll off your back. That mom who shared the best rainbow cookies you’ve ever seen? He burned the chocolate twice because he drank an entire bottle of wine while baking. That perfect looking family posing next to their perfect looking tree? Their visit to the tree farm could rival that of Chevy Chase and his family on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

There’s already a lot of pressure to make your family vacation perfect and not hold it to impossible standards that other parents can’t portray online. So don’t do it! In the meantime, put away your phone, ignore what others are doing, and live in the moment. Remind yourself that those times – unlike the following pictures – are just as uncertain as the next parent.