I don’t know what’s real anymore…

When we discuss mental health and we discuss the various things spiralling out of control in todays world we often speak of it as some sort of new phenomenon, whether that be because it is increasing or simply because it’s so in your face now with it being all over the internet… we can’t deny or ignore the fact that we should have seen it coming, we should be very attuned to the fact it’s a problem getting worse, not better, despite the many open forums and campaigns supporting those with mental health.

Now I was listening to Lily Allen the other day, the song “the fear” specifically… I’m a bit of a nerd and love music, but it’s the lyrics I pay particular attention to. So just so you know, this is what this song made ME think of and it started off this blog… Check the lyrics out… I was simply going to cut and paste a few sections but I think all of it is relevant…

“I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever, I don’t care about funny
I want loads of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds
I heard people die while they are trying to find them

And I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
‘Cause everyone knows that’s how you get famous
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track, yeah, I’m on to a winner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore
I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore
When do you think it will all become clear
‘Cause I’m being taken over by the fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers
It’s all about fast cars and cussing each other
But it doesn’t matter ’cause I’m packing plastic
And that’s what makes my life so fuckin’ fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption
And it’s not my fault, it’s how I’m programmed to function
I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror
I’m on the right track, yeah, I’m on to a winner”

So Lily Allen, thrust into the limelight and writing songs like this… is this not what we all are now? Sure we may not be making the money but with our social media controlling our lives (maybe not my generation but certainly all those following), with our feelings of self worth being based upon how many likes we’ve got on an Insta post… we’re sort of fake famous, or at least thats what’s coming… these fake fitness models, fake fitness professionals, fake representatives, fake, fake, filtered, fake, fuck off. Kids are on these online platforms, younger and younger and this is all they see… fake news, fake pictures, celebrities lives… the lot… What do you think it’s doing to their head?

If Lily Allen looks in the sun and the mirror which by now I’m assuming we all know is seriously scraping the barrel of news… magazines followed… but now these social media platforms… they’re inundated daily by bullshit and they don’t even realise it (I think there should be a social media lesson introduced to every school curriculum as it seems parents are buying the tools for younger and younger kids getting iPhones but then giving no education on how to behave online)…

Tell me, we should not have seen this coming… tell me, we should not have seen the apocalyptic transformation of young minds to want to self harm and end their lives. Tell me that this is not all our own doing, we’ve kept growing social media without ample security… we’ve kept popularising a falsification of what’s attractive with plastic surgery, make up, filters and photoshop… we’ve continued to allow children to become adults from younger and younger ages, stealing their innocence… we’ve continued against common sense to destroy the planet we inhabit… we’ve continued to make things faster, easier, and quicker in order to speed everything up when our minds and bodies cannot keep up… we’ve created more and more convenience items which has led to laziness… we’ve started to lose sight of the things we fought for just a few decades ago, equal rights for women has gone from just that to feminist movements to then feminazis who make me embarrassed to say I’m a feminist (I’m a female, of course I’m a f*cking feminist, but if a girl wants to wave a flag and be paid well to do so, let them be, they’ve the right to make that choice!!!), we’ve popularised people like the Kardashians so the next generation feel it’s socially acceptable to behave the way they do…

Yes I’ve gone off on a tangent here but we need to wake up… Our minds can only take so much, if we’re ignorant enough as humans to believe our brains can continue the way they are with more and more and more being processed and that at some point we aren’t going to break because we “aren’t perfect” we “aren’t rich” we “don’t have a million followers/likes”… mental health is and always will be an issue… but I genuinely feel there is soooo much we can do as a society to help. I think some generations are now lost, but there are age restrictions on social media for a reason, ignoring it is giving your child an invitation to meltdown, to judge and be judged, to be bullied, to be found by online predators, to be trapped in a world they can’t escape, to feel there is no way out other than to end it all. There are forums where people share information online on their eating disorders and celebrate each others illness (not recovery), there are forums about suicide and how to do it, theres self harm imagery easily accessed with some posting a fresher, more serious injury they’ve inflicted upon themselves… some are for sympathy, some are for competition (believe it or not)… This has gone from just being online to now being on Facebook and believe me, not everything gets pulled… check the Facebook documentary about it…

Mental Health is a big deal, we need to do something now to stop the next generations dealing with it to the same degree as where it’s at now, we should be trying to lessen the strain on youngsters now so they aren’t miserable from a young age. We also need to stop using the word depressed with youngsters, they don’t need to know depression, they need to understand sadness and they need to understand that it’s change in your thought process that can make you feel better. Depression is being falsely diagnosed when someone is in the depths of despair, they give you pills and potions to try and help, but you end up even further down the rabbit hole…

I digress again… BUT… as I come to the end of writing this… Tell me, that when you hear these lyrics now from my initial point, it won’t send a shudder down your spine because now you realise…

We should have saw it coming… We should be doing something to stop it getting even worse…

S x