Why Social Media Is Talking You Out Of A Night In

It's Friday night and you're sitting in your pjs with a dominoes feeling like you should be in heels and a tight dress, like the other 90% of people your age. It's strange because you're not having a bad time, quite the opposite actually you're having a fabulous time, but you've looked through Instagram and seen a million 'out out ' posts, and every 5 seconds you receive a new drunken Snapchat and you can't help feel as though you are missing out. You're boring. You are not going to have anything to post on social media in the morning, and the world is going to assume that you have no life. 

When did enjoying yourself become so centred around how you are perceived by others? You can bet your life that you are happier in a baggy tee with pizza in one hand and a tea in the other, than you would be with your toes squished and ankles awkwardly arched, while you stumble around sucking in your belly because your dress is too tight. So why do we do it? We can't even count the amount of times we've forced make up on, and every sip of alcohol has been a struggle, but the fear of missing out has won again.

No snapchat story of us dancing with a drink? No overly posey selfie with a caption telling everyone what club we are going to? No hungover Sunday status about how we are 'never drinking again'? Oh no that just won't do. 

We live in a world where posting about a night out is more fun than the night itself. Where we can never do what we would rather be doing because that's not interesting to others. A night out is not a night out if it hasn't been posted about, and most of the time is spent focused on how the night will be documented best. 

Going out is no longer for fun, it's to have something to update, it's to create an interesting online existence. Dresses can't be re-worn because they are posted for all to see, and you can't be drunk and embarrassing without the whole world being in on your antics. Your night is shared with the everyone, and you better hope it's good enough to keep your social networking the perfect representation of your life. 

Ok ok we could moan about social media all day, but I guess the point is do what you enjoy, not what is enjoyable for viewers to see. Stay in on a Saturday with a takeaway and old episodes of Gavin & Stacey, the beauty of social media is that it's not real, so you can always upload a throwback and pretend you were 'out out ' last night.