Express & Star

Jack Averty: Keep your resolutions to yourself please

New Year, new me.

Published
We really don’t need to know what’s for dinner

Well not me per say, I find the whole New Year charade quite tedious, but New Year new them, if social media is anything to go by.

Seemingly everyone on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram – even MySpace and Bebo – has taken the opportunity this week to post about how 2019 is going to be their year. They are literally going to become a new them, not through a gender change or the vast expense of plastic surgery, but through the medium of an improved personality.

Some will say they want to have more faith in themselves, before immediately asking their friend what takeaway to order because they can't decide, while others will say they're going to be nicer this year, before once again declining the chance to see the grandmother they've not spoken to in six months.

The rise and rise of social media, which has given birth to the so-called Instagram generation, has unfortunately fuelled this crap we get around New Year.

In previous years people would just go out on New Year's Eve and get trollied without a care in the world, now it is all about making sure you can get the best selfie and posting it at prime time so you can get the most likes.

These people who live by the New Year new me motto are the same people who, despite going out once month and drinking half a Jaeger bomb, pledge to take on 'dry January' before posting a heartbreaking picture on January 16 with a glass of wine about how they had such a bad day at work – as a personal trainer.

They're also the people who make outlandish New Year's resolutions that they never, ever, achieve but take great pleasure in posting about all over social media. Be prepared for the daily posts in January from these people about how determined they are to lose 10-stone and become the skinniest adult to ever exist, only for them to start posting pictures of Dominoes pizza boxes in March.

I have got nothing against New Year's resolutions whatsoever, I normally make a couple myself and believe the New Year can be a catalyst for some real change. But why can't people just keep their resolutions to themselves? What are they achieving by letting the world know that in 2019 they're going to take up golf?

Think of it this way, do we actually care if they end up playing golf or not? Sure if they become better than Tiger Woods in the space of 12 months then we'll let them Instagram until their heart's content. But realistically all that's going to happen is they're going to buy a brand new set of clubs and leave them to rot in the shed, much to the fury of their partner.

People are too bothered these days with making themselves look good to others rather than making themselves feel good.

Wouldn't it feel better to actually achieve something rather than manipulating pictures on social media to make it look like you've achieved something?

New Year just multiplies what has become a worrying society trend of people living their lives through social media rather than out in the real world.

Social media should be part of your life, not your whole life. Twitter exists so you can shout about politics, Facebook exists so you can gush about your partner and Instagram exists so you can post arty photos. None of them exist so these people can constantly update us on what they're having for dinner and how terrible their day at work was.

There's nothing wrong with sharing a snippet of your life, but we don't need an endless onslaught day after day.

For those of you who indulge and humour these people, you're part of the problem. The sooner you stop replying the sooner they will realise the need to keep things to themselves.

People need to learn to take pride in themselves and their achievements rather than constantly seeking ratification online.

Set some New Year's resolutions by all means, but people should keep them to themselves and judge themselves at the end of the year – not be judged by others on social media.

If you know one of these people and they're struggling to think of a resolution because their life is so perfect, suggest this: stop living your life on social media and enjoy the real world.

New Year, new them.