Straight-forward bragging or fake humility? The ultimate social media failure is a show of fake humility. Choose how you want to declare your humility to the world. Let's take the mask off false humility!
Nona Walia
Welcome to the humbling world of social media. Social media encourages arrogance on some level and humility on other. On Instagram, you have perfect holiday and fashion posts; Linkedin is full of people flaunting their professional milestones; Facebook is now becoming more about how much fun people are having in their life.
We are cheerful, as long as we are cheered.
The dangerous trend is how our pride is being repackaged as humility. The idea is, ‘I’m so great, yet so humble.’ Humblebragging reads like this: “In gratitude for this humble award. Honoured’. We get celebrated by our chosen mob. The growth of "humbled" is a consequence of the social media-fueled opportunity for constant self-promotion. Failure humbles you, success does not. Then why is every award, every promotion wrapped in humility. The moment you announce your humility, you no longer are humble. There’s a reason that the very act of declaration undermines your self-alleged humility. This might just clash your personal brand power.
It seems humblebragging as a self-presentation strategy just boomeranged. On social media, this is golden period of humility where everyone is trying to show themselves to be ‘great yet humble’. A recent study looking at the effects of humblebragging was led by Ovul Sezer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it was found humblebragging was an annoying trait. Sezer research also published in Harvard Business Review found, “Humblebraggers are disliked, it’s preferred to honestly brag rather than show false humility.” The real challenge is to realize that falsely modest people are probably trying to combat their own perceived weakness. We then need to try to cultivate a tolerance to overlook people’s need to appear too humble.
If you want to brag, try straight-forward bragging rather than covering it in humility. A recent article by David Brooks in The Atlantic spots this trend, “The whole point of humility display is to signal that you are humbled by your own magnificent accomplishments. We can all be humbled by an awesome mountain or the infinitude of the night sky, but to be humbled by being in the presence of yourself—that is a sign of truly great humility. You are showing that you are a regular, normal person, despite the fact that your life is so much more fabulous than those of the people around you. You are showing the world that you haven’t let your immense achievements go to your head! But just think about how amazing it is to be humble when you’re as impressive as you!”
What happens to humility when you put it for display on social media?
It becomes pride.
So then, is humility the new pride!
(Nona Walia is a successful journalist and writer. She’s the author of The Art of Mental Toughness: Survival Lessons from the Pandemic. A motivational expert, she is passionate about helping people live their lives in the best possible way. A wellness warrior and a wellness blogger, Walia has done certified online course on Science of Well-Being from the Yale University. She has worked with The Times of India for 24 years as a Senior Assistant Editor and is also the acclaimed writer of many articles for Thrive Global, Entrepreneur Magazine India, Her Circle. Her forthcoming book Own Your Energy will be out in November 2022)