AuthenticMatters

You, The Holidays, and Internet Martyrdom!

The holidays. Chaotic, annoying, busy, hassled, too quick, too sudden, crazy, too much, fun-filled, regrettable… the adjectival list goes on. And on.

A related trend? People using the holidays and the web to be a martyr (even if they don’t know they’re doing it).

Let me explain. We’ve all seen Facebook status updates or tweets from people where they bemoan how “busy they are!” or how they “can’t believe how anyone can take time off!” While they are most likely venting to a specific frustration (i.e., a client out of the office or a backlog of email to wade through), they’re also doing themselves a disservice. They’re positioning themselves as a woe-is-me martyr. Subconsciously they want to broadcast to their peers how busy they are. Their rant about how overwhelming their inbox (“So much email! I’ll never get to relax this holiday!”)… perhaps there’s a tinge of boastfulness there? I mean, if you actually want to relax, turn off your phone. I know that’s easier said than done, but it’s sort of the simplest solution to your epic problem of having to read every Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt, Facebook, and Twitter email - that you subscribe to.

But no. Instead of dedicating just a few more minutes to un-busying themselves, a status update about how they “just WISH they could ignore their inbox!” takes priority. And I just sort of wonder whether or not there’s a bit of pride there. And it makes me think… the people who actually do have an insane inbox/schedule/amount of work this holiday… they’re not the ones sharing it with the world. No, they’re most likely getting done what’s reasonably expected during the holidays (if not more so) and then they’re taking some time for themselves and their families. It’s about prioritizing. And telling the world how much you “can’t believe that all your friends took a half day the Friday before Christmas!” is not a priority to the doers of the world. (Neither is writing a blog post about this subject. It’s somewhat paradoxical. I understand that. But whatever. It at least remotely fits into the vein of what I do.)

Happy holidays, peoples.