All my happy friends

How well do social media posts show real life? What is the impact of social media posts on how we feel about our lives? Watch this thought-provoking short film by Paul Howard Allen on the topic of social media and mental health.

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercise. Remember you can read the transcript at any time.

Preparation

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Transcript

Woman1: Yeah, they were smashed. Dave stole this hat from a hen party, nearly got into a fight. Yeah, that was a washout. Never mind.

Woman2: This shot shows how much I’m enjoying being a mother. I’m really treasuring every little moment. And here we all are ... all together … a family.

Man1: It’s just a typical Tuesday meal for us. It shows how healthy and balanced my life is. Made it myself.

Woman3: This photo clearly shows how advanced Millie is. I mean, writing up to five, at her age, is incredible.

Woman4: I mean, look at that beach! That’s what you call white sand, isn't it?

[singing] Three, two, one … Happy New Year!

Woman5: What a New Year’s! If next year is half as good as this one has been, then ...

Woman1: I just don’t know why I’m feeling like this.

[baby crying]
Woman1: This is the life, nothing better than relaxing with a takeaway over New Year’s. Oh, what a night! Another typical evening for me, clearly enjoying myself but then that’s the sort of fun, carefree life I lead.

[baby crying]

[singing] People tell me how I’m a-losing my mind but I tell people you just in my car. Oh, time moves faster than me, can’t you see all this job you been working I’ve been a-running free.

Task 1

Exercise

Discussion

Has a social media post ever affected your mood? How can we protect ourselves from this problem?

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Worksheet364.82 KB

Language level

B2 - Upper intermediate

C1 - Advanced

C2 - Proficiency

Topics

health and fitness

social media

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this video is very interesting really and shows how social media effects our lives. And i think its why allot of people have mental problems in nowadays.

Has a social media post ever affected your mood? As for my experience with social media, I think that whatever creates social relationship could influence our behavior. Anyway, I understand why social media posts can effectively affect people’s mood. Vanity is a human wrong point, as well as envy. And when someone looks only at appearances, it is possible that such social activities might badly influence their mood. However, some people project themselves in other’s personality and experience of life, therefore the inner voyerism implied in social media could be a serious problem for them. How can we protect ourselves from this problem? I find that it is basic choosing the right way and means to express ourselves, in the most civil and clever way. For instance, we can decide what level of privacy is appropriate for each of our posts and comments. On the other hand, I think that loosing control of the number of friends is useless, after all - I mean, if we cannot understand what people are saying just in front of us, because we don’t even bother to stop and ask for clarifications, how might we cope with a crowd of strangers. Usually, social media allow to ban and hide some posts or comments, even from advertisements and this is a way to be active using them. In conclusion, we should think that people are used to embellishing their conditions, in order to show their best look and, actually, it is also a positive behavior rather than to keep on feeling sorry for oneself. But when social posts from our friends affect our mood, we should simply consider that life is always a first draft for anyone and, as a famous quote from “Some like it Hot” used to say, in the end: “Nobody is perfect”.

I think, this video is very good to show how are we feeling about other people life's.I guess we live this moment instead of watch the other people moment's.

Hi All,this video is very helpful to learn something new and we can change our mood with social media.

This video is awsome! I like it very much. This story shows the need of the people of feeling special. I think the social media feed the ego and that´s the beginning of the unhapiness. This film, in my opinion, matchs accurate with the reality of the materialist western society