“Yeah, well, it’s all right for you! With your perfect life, your perfect flat, your perfect boyfriend. Everywhere I look, online, at work, everyone’s living these amazing lives, and I’m just… I’m stuck! I’m on the other side of the fence, just watching.”
“Holly, these lives that you’re seeing – it’s an illusion. They aren’t real”
In last night’s ORDINARY LIES we learn more about Holly’s story, played by Kimberley Nixon. And you might’ve found yourself saying, “that’s me”.
We are so heavily reliant on technology, and it’s a theme which is palpable throughout the episode. As natural a daily routine as brushing our teeth, we scroll through multiple media platforms, continuously pausing to compare our lives to others. We’ve all been there, and Holly is no different.
Arriving at work, Holly takes a selfie in the car park and once in the office she is straight online to see how much attention it got. With a smile on her face, she is content to see that “4 people luv it” but the satisfaction is short-lived. Scrolling through her feed, she bombards herself with images of pregnancy and engagement announcements. Suddenly Holly feels unfulfilled, and yet it isn’t enough to make her stop looking again and again.
With a quick search on her phone, Holly is able to discover her ex boyfriend Adam’s relationship status as well as where he works. It’s certainly a nod to oversharing online and how tangible your information is. In what can only be described as stalking, she feigns illness at work to track him down and follow him before “bumping” into him in a supermarket. Although Holly may seem to have adopted a far-fetched approach, it’s not completely implausible.
Holly’s need for approval and fear of rejection is obvious. Going to desperate lengths to be someone she isn’t, Holly lies to Adam about her profession and shares images on her social network which she stole from other profiles. The moral of the story is to be content with who you are and not allow someone’s online presence to dictate your emotions, mainly because not everything you see is real. Technology is somewhat of a double-edged sword. While it allows us the tools to be successful, is also serves as a platform to be anyone we want to be, but not always our true selves.
ORDINARY LIES continues next Tuesday on BBC One.
