August 5: Social Media Vs Real Summer Holidays
Social Media vs Real Summer Holidays
Earlier this year, we spent time exploring the impact social media can have on young people. We talked about comparison culture, the pressure to present a perfect life online and how carefully curated content can leave teenagers feeling as though everyone else is happier, more successful or more accepted than they are. We encouraged parents to help children question what they were seeing and to remember that social media rarely tells the whole story.
Perhaps it's time we took our own advice.
Because while we worry about the pressures social media places on our children, many of us carry those same pressures ourselves.
The Summer We Think We Should Be Having
It doesn't take long for our social media feeds to fill with family holidays abroad, beautifully packed picnic hampers, colour-coordinated beach days and smiling children enjoying what appears to be six weeks of uninterrupted happiness. None of these moments are necessarily untrue but they are only moments.
What we don't see are the early morning arguments, the tired parents, the delayed flights, the children refusing to eat the expensive meal, the overflowing washing baskets waiting at home or the financial worry that may have gone into paying for the holiday in the first place.
Social media gives us highlights. Real life includes everything in between.
Comparison Doesn't End With Childhood
One of the key messages from our series on young people's wellbeing was that constant comparison can slowly change the way we see ourselves. When teenagers repeatedly compare their everyday lives to someone else's carefully edited highlights, they often begin to believe they are somehow falling behind. The same thing can happen to us as parents.
Without even realising it, we begin comparing our family holidays, our homes, our finances, our parenting and even our children's happiness with people whose full story we simply don't know.
Suddenly, the afternoon spent playing in the garden doesn't seem enough, the walk to the local park feels ordinary compared to someone else's theme park visit, the homemade picnic somehow feels less exciting than a beachfront restaurant. Yet none of those comparisons are fair.
Children Aren't Judging Their Summer Like We Are
Parents often assume children are keeping score. How many day trips did we go on? Did we book the biggest attractions? Did we spend enough money?
In reality, children usually experience summer very differently. They remember who laughed with them, who listened, who joined in the water fight, who sat beside them while they built a den, who stayed up a little later to watch the stars.
Those moments don't usually appear on social media because they aren't designed to impress anyone else but they can be the moments that matter most.
A Summer Worth Remembering
Perhaps this summer we can make a different choice. Instead of asking whether our family looks happy enough for a photograph, perhaps we can ask whether we are actually enjoying the moment we're in. Instead of comparing our lives with someone else's carefully selected snapshots, perhaps we can remind ourselves that every family has challenges, even if they never appear online. And instead of measuring summer by how impressive it looks, perhaps we can measure it by how much time we spent together, how much we laughed and how connected we felt.
Those are the moments our children are far more likely to carry with them long after the photographs have been forgotten.
Looking Up Instead of Looking Across
One of the most valuable lessons we can teach our children is that their worth is never determined by comparison. And what a good lesson for us to remember too.
So, if social media leaves you wondering whether you're doing enough this summer, remember that the family you're comparing yourself to is living a real life too, their difficult moments simply don't make it onto your screen. Your children are not growing up inside a perfectly edited highlight reel, they're growing up inside your family. And if they feel loved, accepted and safe, then you're already giving them something no photograph could ever capture. And that is a summer worth celebrating.
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