Short Story Sunday: Measuring Himself Against a Screen

Lucas did not remember when scrolling stopped being harmless.

At first, it was just something he did to pass time. A few minutes here and there. Watching videos. Looking at photos. Keeping up with what people were doing. But somewhere along the way, it became something else.

Something heavier.

Every time Lucas opened his phone, he was met with images of lives that seemed more exciting than his own. People his age traveling, winning, celebrating, looking confident and put together. Even when he knew those moments were carefully selected, the comparison felt real.

He told himself it should not matter.

But it did.

Lucas began measuring his life against what he saw on the screen. He questioned whether he was doing enough. Whether he looked right. Whether he was falling behind without realizing it. The more he scrolled, the more distant his own accomplishments felt.

It did not help that everyone else seemed unbothered.

At school, conversations often revolved around what someone posted or how many views something got. Popularity felt visible and countable. Likes became a form of validation. Silence felt like rejection.

Lucas rarely posted himself.

When he did, he checked his phone constantly afterward. He watched the numbers rise slowly, then stop. If a post did not get enough attention, he deleted it, convincing himself it had been a mistake to share at all.

Social media had quietly become a mirror.

And Lucas did not like what he saw reflected back at him.

He found himself thinking about other people’s lives more than his own. Instead of enjoying moments as they happened, he wondered how they would look online. Instead of feeling proud of progress, he felt pressure to perform.

One night, lying in bed with his phone glowing in the dark, Lucas felt an unfamiliar wave of frustration.

He was tired.

Tired of comparing. Tired of feeling less than. Tired of chasing a version of life that did not feel real.

That night, he asked himself a question he had been avoiding.

Why did someone else’s highlight reel have so much control over how he felt about his own life?

The question stayed with him.

Slowly, Lucas began paying attention to how scrolling made him feel. Not just during it, but after. He noticed that most of the time, he felt restless. Unsatisfied. Smaller.

So he started making small changes.

He limited how often he checked his phone. He unfollowed accounts that made him feel inadequate, even if they were popular. He followed people who shared honestly, including struggles and growth, not just success.

At first, it felt strange.

Without constant comparison, there was more silence. More space. More room to notice his own life.

Lucas began focusing on things he had ignored before. Conversations. Progress that did not translate into posts. Moments that felt meaningful even if no one else saw them.

The comparison did not disappear overnight.

There were still days when he caught himself measuring his worth against what he saw online. But those moments no longer defined him.

Lucas learned something important.

Social media shows moments, not meaning. It shows images, not effort. And it never tells the full story.

His life did not need to look impressive to be valuable.

Once he stopped comparing, he started living.

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Reflection Questions:

1. How does social media make you feel about yourself most days?

2. Who or what do you compare yourself to online?

3. What emotions come up after spending time scrolling?

4. How do you decide what accounts to follow or unfollow?

5. What parts of your life feel meaningful even without sharing them?

Youth are encouraged to share their reflections by emailing MyStory@3JYouth.org