Envy: According to Moya Sarner at The Guardian this deadly sin is more present in our everyday lives than ever before, thanks to social media. ... She writes that not only do we compare ourselves to friends and neighbors (as people have always done), but now, online, we measure up against people all over the globe, celebrities and strangers, friends of friends. One therapist, has coined this “comparisonitis,” an emotional sickness which can’t be intellectualized or curbed by willpower.

Furthermore, Sarner writes, “No age group or social class is immune from envy.” Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan who writes, “envy is being taken to an extreme.” We are constantly bombarded by “Photoshopped lives”, he says, “and that exerts a toll on us the likes of which we have never experienced in the history of our species. And it is not particularly pleasant.” Sarner concludes: “While we are busy finding the perfect camera angle, our lives become a dazzling, flawless [but hard shell], empty inside but for the envy of others and ourselves.”

Source:

C.J. Green, “Another Week Ends,” Mockingbird blog (10-12-18)