It is said that once a family man went out into the early hours of the morning in search of workers for his vineyard, agreeing with them to pay a coin. As the demand was high, this situation was repeated three more times throughout the day, as this gentleman took to the streets to entice workers.
And behold, in the afternoon, the generous man gathered all the workers summoned throughout the day to give them the payment due, starting with the last ones summoned for the service. So, seeing that the lord had paid them a coin, the workers who had toiled since dawn believed that they would be given a higher pay. What was their surprise when they received, like the others, a single coin!
Feeling naturally wronged, these workers questioned the behavior of the boss: “Wait, are you paying these men the equivalent of ours, given that we work throughout the day while they arrived just over an hour ago?”. To which the boss patiently replies: “I am not doing you any injustice. Wasn't the payment of a coin what was agreed with all of you?”
This little narrative is actually a biblical passage (Matthew 20, 1-16), famous for the maxim “the last shall be first”. This analogy between the kingdom of heaven and the workers of the vineyard made me reflect a lot on the comparison that paralyzes, that stagnates, what makes this behavior so aptly translated into:
Comparison = like + stop + a + action.
This is not, of course, an etymological approach, but a wonderful and pertinent analogy that, I must say, was not my inspiration, but my therapist's, when we were discussing the stagnation commonly caused by the excessive use of social networks. Especially from Instagram.
If my value as a human being is measurable by my number of followers, what is my importance compared to that profile with thousands, sometimes millions of followers? If my popularity on Instagram is what defines my radius of action and my impact on the world, who am I in the midst of the myriad of influencers, artists, therapists, coaches and the like?
The advent of networks seems to have intensified a human tendency to consider quantity over quality. If I don't impact hundreds or thousands of individuals, then everything I do is expendable and mediocre.
And that's when I stop dedicating myself to noble and simple acts, like donating a basic food basket, helping a neighbor in need or calling a friend devastated by depression. And this is where a facet of us is revealed that is much more concerned with recognition than with genuine and disinterested help.
It's our "good" and old selfishness showing its faces... If social networks in their beginnings (orkut) were focused on the connection between friends, nowadays they act as a showcase of the perfect life, of the (false) "good vibes lifestyle". ” and a popularity that often (not always) involves material possessions, whiteness and standard beauty.
Few are those who manage to use it wisely and beneficially. In this sense, if the disconnection or at least the drastic restriction of my virtual existence seems healthy to me, I do so not only in the name of an already weakened mental health, but also in the name of a real life that has long been lacking. lived.
Nothing against social networks per se, because boycotting them would be like getting rid of the mirror because of a pimple. It is always good, however, to consider our performance in a context designed to addict the many and enrich the few…
- Willpower as motivation and achievement of results
- Protect yourself from the perfect life syndrome on social media
- Investigate what might be depressing you on social media
- Discover the factors that determine your self-esteem
- Your thoughts and your actions define who you are. So be good!
In this sense, disconnection seems to me to be healthy if it helps us to redirect the focus to what we should be doing. The neighbor's grass or the coin paid to last-minute workers lose their importance when we pay attention to our tasks, taking them as an end in themselves and not as a means; when we simply pay attention to what was agreed upon when we were designated to work among the vines of existence.
Life owes us nothing, but demands a lot from us. It may seem cruel at first, but it ceases to be so the moment we understand what we have come to; at the moment when, already mature, we learn to conceive of her not as a villain, but as a teacher who only submits us to the tests necessary for our evolution.
