Straight talk from influencers, observers, and social media users
Rabbi Yossi Bensoussan with Elisheva Appel
The idea of an influencer predates the Internet. By several millennia, actually. The original Influencer has had us looking enviously at other people’s perfect lives for centuries, only now he has a platform that lets him do it on a much wider scale, with much greater ease. So yeah, of course the Satan loves the Internet.
Of course, it’s easy to demonize the Internet, but we have to realize it’s just a tool. Like any tool, there are amazing people who use it responsibly, to spread inspiring and authentic content — and others who misuse it. The real problem is deeper. It’s us.
Peeping into others’ carefully curated storybook lives feeds into our narratives that our lives are no good, we’re inadequate, and gee, other people really have it good. We subconsciously try to assume their persona, hoping it’ll make our own sorry lives a little more perfect.
The end result: We walk away thinking that we’re not enough. Not creative enough, not successful enough, not well-dressed, calm, and put-together enough.
Create a free account to keep reading.
