facebook envy

A friend of mine posted this article on facebook: Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life. I found it to be a well-presented argument for using technology to connect rather than compare ourselves with others. I have heard of facebook envy before (although I can't really say I've felt it, thankfully) and I have considered posting fewer pictures of my boys in case they be a cause of such envy. But I get so much positive feedback (quite a bit in real conversations rather than simply 'likes' or comments) that I think the joy they bring more than compensates for the potential for someone to feel envious. I also feel that my friends are more inclined to be happy that someone else is happy than to envy that happiness. I do try to edit out the dirty dishes or messy floors from my pictures but I hope that it has more to do with the aesthetic of the photo than with a desire to hide the not-so-fun part of life from anyone to see. I believe and hope that I am honest and open enough with those I love that there is no room for the distance and disconnect that surely is required for envy. All that being said I am planning on another photo-dump post of my beautiful baby. I was able to get some great pictures in natural light (YAY!) this morning. Please don't envy me but enter into my joy in beauty for beauty's sake. My life is far from perfect but I hope that my photography and posts help illustrate that joy can exist even in a dirty, cramped, light-less, small, basement apartment when love lives there. Okay, that last bit sounded corny but I'll leave it in just because.