The following text is an excerpt from a conversation with Todd Goodwin, Board Certified Hypnotist at GoodwinHypnosis.com, who was interviewed by Conor Flynn, host of the Rx Podcast (DrinkRxCoffee.com), on July 30, 2018.
This fifth segment opens a discussion on the unhealthy psychology of social media.
TODD: Yeah. And I think, you know, you mentioned social media, if I can go on a little bit of a tear here, you may have to hold me back. This is a completely modern phenomenon, with Facebook, Instagram, and the like, where people tend to post generally positive things. Some people complain, and then there’s an aspect of that as well. But people post these selfies where they’re looking great. How many people do you see post a selfie of their beer gut? Or their belly hanging out?
CONOR: If they do it’s usually a Comedian.
TODD: Exactly. Usually, they’re posting their best, and there’s a narcissistic quality that distorts what people viewing social media are actually perceiving. In other words, notice there’s a Like button on Facebook, and a love and all that, but there’s no Dislike button. Because how many times have you seen something that…
CONOR: There’s one on YouTube, though, there’s a thumbs down on YouTube.
TODD: That’s true, that’s true. But that’s Google, not Facebook, and you’re either thumbs up or thumbs down. And I think that’s actually healthier, because at least you’re giving honest feedback. On Facebook, it’s not about honest feedback, it’s about building a community to support advertising. And it’s not about accuracy or honesty, it’s about getting everyone to reinforce other people. If you see something and someone is being super self-serving, like, you know, they’re showing off their new manicure on their steering wheel. And of course, you happen to notice that there’s a BMW insignia below their hand. So they’re really showing off that they’re driving a BMW, it’s not about the red nail polish. But under the guise of that is a narcissistic tendency that people in this younger generation, has a problem with true self-worth. They may think highly of themselves. But that’s superficial. And it’s like our president who has very high self-esteem outwardly, but probably very low self-worth deep inside. And these people have to overcompensate by talking about how great they are, just to prove it to themselves and other people so that they feel okay with themselves. In social media, when you see all this positive, I’m doing air quotes, positive stuff, how great everything is, “I’m so blessed. My life is so great. My God, I’m so grateful.” I know a lot of people who post that type of stuff, and they don’t believe what they’re posting at all.
CONOR: Yeah, there’s a lot of fakers out there. It’s sometimes the person that posts every day, positive quotes, and this and that, those are usually the people from my experience that are usually the most miserable, because it’s like they’re trying to brainwash themselves by posting all these things.
The next segment explains the problem with positive thinking.