10 problems we all face using Social Media

In an era when everyday life is pretty much ruled by Social Media, here are some problems that at one time or another, I'm sure we've all probably experienced. Social Media 'aint such a great pal after all...

1. Not being able to get out of bed in the morning until you have checked all Insta/Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat feeds. Because if you don't, you will probably miss something really important and your life will be over (oh, irony). 

2. The dreaded blue ticks on Whatsapp. We 100% know that you've seen our message and even you know that we know. So why oh why do you not reply? The rage is real.

3. As above, but this time you're the culprit. Someone messages you and you just cant be arsed to reply. But oh no, now they know you've seen it. It takes two to tango.

4. Creating the ugliest snapchat known to mankind and accidentally sending it to that fit guy you met on Tinder succeeded only by the word, NOOOOO. (Talking of which, read a whole list of Tinder probs here)

5. Getting pissed as a fart on a Friday night and creating the most hilarious snapchat story to ever grace the world. Waking up in the morning and realising your 100 second story isn't funny at all, and that really, you're just a bit of a moron.

6. You create the greatest instagram photo; an image good enough to be framed on the wall, some might even say a masterpiece. You hashtag the shit out of it............and you get one like. Instant deletion. 

7. Taking a great selfie with your friends on a night out and secretly thinking, 'shit me I look great, this is going to be my profile picture'. You go to change it the next day and your friend has already beaten you to it. Bitch please.

8. Spending a good ten minutes on Facebook/Insta stalking some fit guy/girl you haven't spoken to since you were 15 and accidentally liking their photo from about 2 years ago. Kill me now. 

9. Being genuinely fed up that you don't have anyting remotely interesting to tweet about so you tweet about the fact you have nothing to tweet about. Good one.

10. The God of all problems, the cream of the crop: searching someone's name on Facebook and accidentally putting it as your status. R.I.P me.

#firstworldproblems

How to tell the January blues to do one.

So we all know the 'new year new me' hype is utter bullshit - you're still the same person you were last month, maybe just slightly porkier and with a bag full of regrets from your crazy drunkenness on New Years Eve'.

However, even if January is the shittest month known to man - we're on a comedown from the festive period, we're skint, it's raining (cry me a river) - I realised as I was walking along minding my own business that I had absolutely no reason to feel crap. I might not have any exotic holidays planned or that Burberry trench coat that I am so badly yearning for, but what I do have is just fine. That's where the difference between happiness and contentment comes in. 

Every time we're not truly happy with every single aspect of our lives, we mistake it for unhappiness. We achieve everything we've ever wanted, we obtain all material goods to satisfy, and yet our happiness lasts for about a week before we strive for the next big thing and we're not truly settled until we get it. 

I'm not being a moron, insinuating that people aren't ever unhappy, I'm simply iterating that being content with what you do have should be that which makes you smile, because sometimes, true happiness 100% of the time just isn't possible.

CONTENTMENT  Having one’s desire bound by what one has (though that may be less than one could have wished); not disturbed by the desire of anything more, or of anything different; satisfied so as not to repine.

Restless and discontent, we always have that one thing we desire and strive for. Ambition is everything, striving for material goods or temporary highs to make you happy is not. Of course, nobody should have to settle, and though the dichotomy between happiness and unhappiness is vast, it should never be either/or.  Contentment is the medium that I am quite satisfied to place myself in. Unfortunately it would be naive to expect everybody to be happy every single second of every waking day. Contentment is realising that although you might not have much to look forward to this month and you might not have the money you strive for and that one person you're after, you're content with the things you do have.

It is the long term solution that everyone needs to be reminded of once in a while; the mother, the life long friendship that you couldn't live without. Happiness is the short term burst of energy and euphoria and that which is not constant; the drunken night out or that amazing Dominoes pizza. Sure, strive for constant happiness, please do. But know that if you meditate hard on the conditions that you couldn't live without, you will find contentment right in front of you.

The Book Club

Instead of a boring single book review post, I thought I'd provide quick and snappy reviews of a few of the books I've read in 2014 and why in particular they have resonated with me, hopefully providing you with some inspiration for reads in the New Year. Every book worm loves recommendations after all...

1. The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy

I read this novel for the second time this year and it was just as beautiful the second time round. Roy tells a poignant tale of one family's bond, which is torn apart by one tragic accident. The novel is set in Aymanam, India following small people with the largest of hearts. 

The prose maintain a dream like, ethereal quality, wistfully gliding you from one moment in time to another. The temporal setting shifts back and forth from 1969, when fraternal twins Rahel and Esthappen are seven years old, to 1993, when the twins are reunited at age of 31. Along the way readers are exposed to their everyday experiences and what it's like to grow up in a world of communism and the caste system. Don't let the political undertones deter you, Roy manages to evoke a plethora of emotions from sheer joy to genuine upset.

The tragic accident that drives the majority of the narrative is nothing less than shocking, however what I find so beautiful about this novel is the exploration of familial relationships and the ability to resonate so deeply with someone so far removed from Indian culture. 

"Anything can happen to anyone. It's best to be prepared."

Read if you:

Enjoy beautifully written prose

Are a sucker for a sentimental tale 

Liked To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

2. Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier

An absolute Gothic classic by Maurier, not usually my thing I hasten to add but a surprisingly easy read in comparison to other similar classics and the only novel I've read this year where my jaw has genuinely dropped with shock.

The novel follows the story of a naive young woman (readers never learn her name) who becomes acquainted with a wealthy Englishmen, Maximillian de Winter, a widower far older. The novel is a flashback in its entirety to the narrator's marriage to Maxim and the experiences that take place at Manderley Hall, namely involving the ominous house keeper Mrs. Danvers and the ghost of Maxim's late wife, Rebecca. 

For at first a novel that seems extremely conventional the plot twist hit me in the face at maximum speed. I lost myself entirely in this novel, and read every page in detail to the last full stop.

Read if you:

Enjoy classic novels, think Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte, Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

Like a shocking twist  

3. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

I wrote my Undergraduate Degree Dissertation on Plath's debut and only novel, focusing primarily on female insanity. I think it's safe to say that as humans, we are generally interested in that which disturbs and unsettles us and what makes the novel even more interesting though be it in a very twisted and perverse way, is that it is reminiscent of Plath's own troubled life.

The novel explores the interiority of a young woman's mind ridden with mental illness and alienation from the self. Even the structure and language of the novel mirrors the narrator's descent to insanity. Though a challenging read at times due its bleak and disturbing tones, the protagonist, Esther, is so relatable She is an everyday woman, experiencing the usual college woes and stresses of maturing into adult working life. What makes the novel so intriguing and raw is the very unemotional description of depression, and the fact that Plath herself committed suicide in the same year the novel was published.

Read if you:

Enjoy books which disturb

Are interested in feminism and female identity

Liked The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins-Gilman

4. Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn

So I've already written a little on this book and Gillian Flynn in general which you can read here. Though it by far isn't one of my favourite novels of all time, I thought it best to include in this 'Book Club' as it's a cracker for a quick and easy read - unlike all novels recommended above.

The novel is straight forward from the beginning and lacks any clever twists and turns, unlike it's classic predecessor, Rebecca. However, it is royally disturbing, but in a far less subtle way than The Bell Jar. The novel follows Camille Preaker, upon return to her hometown to report on a series of brutal child murders. Though the characters are far from relatable, they make excellent literary experiments for Flynn to play with, and manage to take the term 'psycho bitch' to a whole new level.

Read if you:

Are after a quick and easy read 

Enjoy disturbing murder mystery novels

Liked Gone Girl Gillian Flynn



Happy reading!