According to Dr. Matthews, social media blurs the line between the online world and reality, while also presenting a more idealized version of what exists. “ Everyone posts about their wins or life highlights, while very few posts are about losses or things they wouldn’t want everyone to know about,” he noted.
From his perspective, the healthiest way to present yourself online is to opt for authenticity. In short, be true to yourself.
“The more congruent the real you is with what you’re putting on the internet, the better. This does not necessarily mean oversharing or posting stuff that you might be embarrassed about, but keeping the authenticity and what that means for you in mind,” he said.
“Think about your values and try to live as true to them as possible. And lastly, less is more. Trying to keep social media use to a minimal or moderate amount is generally best, as far as productivity and things like that, but the research has been showing high correlations between heavy social media use and things like high rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.”
The ‘I Am Very Bad’ online community has been thriving for over a decade, since May 2015, poking fun at fake people who think they should not be messed with. Usually, these individuals are keyboard warriors, online bullies, edgy people, toxic crusaders, and internet tough guys and gals. In short, they are anyone and everyone who puts up a front that anyone with a dash of common sense and social insight sees through in a heartbeat.
Previously, Bored Panda reached out to the moderator team running the group, and one of its members was kind enough to tell us all about the community.
“Some of the most popular ['tough' people on the subreddit are the ones who see] injustice in the news (e.g. someone being insulted or beaten up), and say, 'If that happened to me I'd so and so and so and so!' With everyone on social media having a platform to air any opinion they have, this is incredibly common," u/ergoegthatis told Bored Panda earlier.
“For some reason, Americans are religiously addicted to expressing their opinions on everything, in every possible way (including car decals),” they added that this is true for showing off political and other beliefs.
From the moderator’s perspective, the ‘protagonists’ featured (read: shamed) by the online community are likely overcompensating for something. Often, they are afraid of a hostile, unpredictable, and downright scary world.
Mod u/ergoegthatis noted that this is likely linked to social factors, as they rarely see these sorts of behaviors coming from Europe, the Arab world, Southern and Central America, China, Japan, and elsewhere. From their point of view, the United States is “witnessing social, political, and economic implosions, so this seems to be a way for them to cope with that.
Meanwhile, unlike the mostly uniform ‘characters’ that entertain the internet with their entitled, narcissistic, and over-the-top tough guy acts, the ‘I Am Very Bad’ community is actually much more diverse.
"It's heterogeneous, [and has] got all sorts of people. I don't think there's any common factor in our userbase, except the desire to have fun and laugh at people who take their purported [toughness] to comical levels in public,” u/ergoegthatis said.
Do you know someone who likes to pretend to be tough, cool, and capable online, but they’re the exact opposite in real life? What do you think might help them develop a bit of self-awareness and humility?
Have you ever struggled with your confidence and self-esteem? How do you stay authentic to yourself, no matter what? Share your wisdom with all the other Pandas in the comments.
