Social media can be a conduit for turning a molehill into a mountain

The power then of social media is undeniable. From a little incident or a simple innocent comment, anything can be blown out of proportion. Social media acts as magnifying lenses that not only increase attention to an issue but also expand it beyond its true extent. So, a small detail – molehill, becomes the starting point of a process of gradual expansions, until we end up with the oversized mountain – a worrying pathological situation that needs urgent remedy.

In this way, a small incident can eventually take on explosive proportions. Through platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram, users not only reproduce and comment, but also add unnecessary drama and stretch the issue occasionally beyond recognition. Thus, the molehill becomes mountain, as the issues are inflated, and often distorted to fit one of the many and varied narratives circulating the internet.

Exaggeration often has a cost. A very small issue that has been inflated in this way can overshadow and displace other issues that are really serious and important. From a small problem everything can explode to colossal proportions. Even non-existent pure fantasies and other figments of the imagination are often added to the facts that actually exist.

The mental stress that is generated deprives us of the opportunity to think calmly and to examine the facts rationally and in depth, as has been taught by the Stoic school of philosophy, whose founder was the Cypriot Zeno of Citium (c. 334 – c. 262 BC).

All of the above have been extensively researched, even by academic scholars. However, there is one related issue that I believe is equally serious, yet has been unjustifiably overlooked. In my view, one of the significant wrongs of our internet era is the way many individuals, through social networks, project a misleading image of themselves. Moreover, too few people seem to care about another person’s education and moral values. Instead, their chief interest seems to be the person’s physical appearance and material wealth – whether they are slim, good-looking and rich.

People go out more in order to be seen, photographed, networked, and to show off their new and expensive attire and gadgets rather than truly enjoy themselves. Therefore, the public projection of their own physical, intellectual and spiritual being does not necessarily agree with their true self and often deviates significantly from reality.

Furthermore, many people often have small imperfections in their physical appearance, which trouble their lives. The normally small defect is noticed and one spends a great deal of time in front of a mirror contemplating it. Unfortunately, when one has something bothering their mind and mull over it all the time, gradually the problem grows bigger and bigger. One may become preoccupied with it all the time.

Eventually, a minor issue may become a terrible problem. In this way, one may make a mountain out of a molehill. All these issues are increasingly becoming a serious problem, especially to the impressionable young.

If we resist the temptation to ‘make mountains out of molehills’, we can arrive at a correct and balanced result that is in complete harmony with reality, which was and remains the main teaching of Stoic philosophy.

LYSANDROS LYSANDROU