Escaping the Comparison Trap

This video, titled “Escaping the Comparison Trap” , uses visuals and narration to explain and offer solutions to the feeling of negativity that arises from comparing ourselves to others, particularly on social media.

The video begins with an over-the-shoulder shot of a person looking at a phone, appearing to scroll through social media posts and photos. A striking visual follows: the image flips upside down and zooms out to reveal that the person is hanging from a classic cartoon leg snare, symbolizing being trapped by the act of comparison. The narration states that we often think others are better looking and happier than we are, which is termed the “comparison trap”.

Next, the video presents a visual contrast. On screen are two photos side-by-side: the first shows a person having a medal pinned on them, representing achievement or success. The second photo depicts a person getting hit in the face with a pie, representing failure or humiliation. A green check mark appears on the successful photo, and a red X appears on the unsuccessful one, which then fades away. This highlights our tendency to focus on the positive portrayals of others and dismiss the negative.

The successful photo then expands to fill the screen, and editing tools, similar to those in photo editing apps, appear. These tools visually make the person’s waist thinner, their eyes bigger, and remove a bit of hair that was sticking up, demonstrating how people can digitally alter their appearance online. The narration points out that there are many tools, like photo filters, that can make us look better than we do in real life. The edited photo then zooms back to half-screen size, and another, similarly filtered photo appears next to it, further emphasizing the prevalence of idealized online images.

The perspective shifts back to the person in the snare from the beginning, who is now looking towards the camera. The narration poses the central question: “So how can we escape the comparison trap?”.

The video suggests a first step: “Search for traps”. Visually, the screen displays three social media posts featuring a highly filtered, idealized person. In the first post, they are riding a horse; in the second, they are watching a sunset; and in the third, they are riding a horse into a sunset. The narration encourages viewers to start thinking about the times when what they see and do online makes them feel bad about themselves.

The video then proposes to “Improve your feed”. The last idealized post from the previous scene remains on screen, and next to it appears another post of a clearly unfiltered person. This person has a bigger body, blemishes, and some hair sticking up. They are holding an ice cream cone and have a big ice cream stain on their shirt. Their expression is described as an amused “you can’t win” shrug, with their hands spread. The narration advises improving one’s feed by only following people that make you feel good about yourself.

To further illustrate this, a “mute” symbol appears over the first, filtered image, suggesting that you can mute people who make you feel bad without unfollowing them. Additionally, a thumbs-down symbol appears below the filtered image, and a thumbs-up image appears below the unfiltered one, indicating that you can train your algorithm to show you less content that makes you feel negative and more that makes you feel positive. The narration reinforces this by stating that you can find out what signals you can send to control your feed.

The video then encourages viewers to “Get some perspective”. The scene returns to the person in the snare, and the camera zooms out to reveal many other people also hanging from snares, all looking at their phones. This visual emphasizes that the feeling of being trapped by comparison is a widespread experience. The narration reminds viewers that almost everyone else is using filters and posting only the best aspects of their lives, just like you might, and that this can make them feel just as stressed.

Finally, the video offers a concluding thought. The camera zooms back to the original person in the snare, and the image rotates, so that they become right-side up. Once fully reversed, they drop from the snare and fall out of the frame, looking alarmed. The camera then tilts down to show them land on the ground, looking relieved. The narration concludes that being kind to others – and to yourself – can help everyone escape the comparison trap.

In summary, the video uses contrasting visuals of idealized versus realistic portrayals, the metaphor of a snare to represent the feeling of being trapped by comparison, and concrete actions like muting or training algorithms to illustrate how to escape this trap. It emphasizes the artificiality of online presentations and the commonality of these feelings.