You're O.K., I'm Not

The holiday season is a time for joy and happiness...and depression. It's not just the holiday season, either...it seems that many people see themselves in a negative light based on their perceptions of their peers' lives. Noted sometimes as the "Facebook Effect," this feeling of worthlessness is based on totally erroneous thought, according to Alexander H. Jordan, and he should know.
Jordan's doctoral dissertation on the matter at Stanford University was recently published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and offers some insight into why we generally think others' lives are great while ours sucks.
Face it...we often judge how our lives are going by what the lives of our peers tend to be like. That, according to Jordan, is a major mistake, for two reasons:
Generally, we see other people in social situations, and folks generally keep negative vibes repressed in these encounters (holiday office parties, for example). It just makes sense that people are happier in company.
However, we never see those same peers we envy in those solitary moments when people are more likely to be "sad, irritable, bored and lonely." Thus, we see only one side of people and merely assume the worst about ourselves.
Interestingly, Jordan got interested in his research after friends reported being depressed after viewing the status of friends on Facebook. The others seemed to be living a wonderful life in contrast to Jordan's friends who began to feel like something the cat dragged in: not successful, lonely, etc.
That's one reason I rarely go to my Facebook page.
Farmville requests are another.
So, "Perk up you Jackwagon...get back from Namby Pamby Land and get some self confidence...crybaby!" (Sarge)
Happy holidays; in spite of how miserable you think you are, your friends are no better off. In fact, they envy YOU!