Matthew 6:28-30
Status and Social Media: The Illusion of Online Happiness – Matthew 6:28-30
Matthew 6:28-30 (NIVUK)
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Commentary
So verse 28, he says, consider the lilies of the field. Even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. And that sort of external appearance is about status. And when we treat life as a sort of a competition where we gain satisfaction by being seen as better than others, whether that’s through success or popularity or wealth or appearance or fame. So that’s the game that we’re playing and it strikes me that’s always been the case, but that modern technology has accelerated that. There’s this whole online thing where we can curate a version of ourselves so that people will like us more, be more impressed by us. Is happiness to be found that way? Those little clicks that you get, those little likes that you get on social media, they do give you just a little kick of happiness, a little microdose of pleasure. Does it last? Is that the way to happiness? Of course it’s not. And in fact one of the real problems of it is we end up hiding our real selves behind that version of ourselves and it cuts us off from real relationships with people. And we end up comparing an unreal version of someone else’s life with a very real version of our own lives, and it makes us more unhappy.