Everyone envies, or is jealous of, others at some point in life. As such, envy is a natural feeling. There have been quite a few times when I was madly envious of others. When I saw an acquaintance writing on Facebook four years ago that she was very proud after appearing as a presenter at a prominent policy forum, and when I recently heard that my friend was studying in the U.S. They made my heart pound, got me dizzy, and I felt deprived. Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune. Clearly, both of my memories were painful.

    It is said that the feeling of envy arises when someone else has what we often think we should have. Whatever the cause of envy, as Moya Sarner, The Guardians' freelance feature writer, said, it is clear that we are living in “the age of envy.” We are envious of several things, including others' abilities, appearance, experience, wealth, and leisure. The development of social media has greatly contributed to the advent of the age of envy. According to Ethan Kross, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, the development of social media today has raised human envy levels to an extreme. In addition, clinical psychologist Rachel Andrew said social media amplified people's psychological anxiety and that "in the past, people might have just envied their neighbors, but now we are comparing ourselves with everyone across the world."

     Of course, I think social media has many positive features, such as sharing useful information and sometimes publicizing the irrational things that someone has suffered. Most people post to their social media more when they go through happy things such as traveling or getting promoted, than when they are sad or struggling. Therefore, the world in social media can seem like a world full of only happiness and success. Dr. Andrew said that, on social media, most of us know that we are looking at an edited version of reality, but it is no defense against the emotional force of envy. The irony is that we, who suffer from the happiness of others, at the same time become people who cause pain to someone. “Honing your personal brand on social media may seem good for business, but it does have a price. It all creates an atmosphere where showing off – whether unapologetically or deceptively – is not just normalized but expected, and that is a space where envy can flourish,” Moya Sarner said. We can't get away from envy completely because we live in a world where we can see things that make us feel envy whenever and wherever we look at out phone. However, if that emotion goes beyond a certain level and becomes painful to us, it is self-destructive, so we need to know how to deal with it. Dr. Andrew says it is more important to understand what the feeling of envy is telling us that we want, not whether the feeling is positive or negative. She said, "If that is achievable, you could take proper steps towards achieving it. But at the same time, ask yourself, what would be good enough?”

        At the same time, it is also necessary to change the attitude toward using social media. We don’t need to prove that ‘I’m living a good life’, and to be ourselves appear to have what we don’t. Consider whether the way you create yourself online will make someone feel deprivation. Many readers of CAH must have thought of their new year's goals as they started 2022. Each goal may be different, but the goals might all ultimately contain "happiness." I hope you protect yourself so that the feeling of envy does not interfere with your future happiness. Just because you don't have what others do doesn’t mean you're worse than them. I sincerely cheer for the readers' 2022 to be full of happiness!