The Trap of the Perfect Summer

Summer is perhaps the season with the highest expectations. It’s the time of year we associate with relaxation, carefree living, wonderful experiences, and moments we’ll remember all year long. At the same time, however, it’s also the season when many people feel a strange sense of dissatisfaction more acutely. Not because something is necessarily going wrong in their lives, but because it seems like everyone else’s life is going better.

A quick scroll through social media is enough to be confronted with countless images of beaches, trips, groups of friends, sunsets, and moments that seem almost perfect. Without realizing it, we start comparing the reality of our own daily lives to the best moments of others’ lives. And that’s when the now-familiar FOMO—Fear of Missing Out—kicks in: the fear that we’re missing out on something important that everyone else seems to be experiencing.

What’s interesting is that FOMO isn’t just about the experiences we’re actually missing out on. It’s mainly about the feeling that we should be experiencing something more than what we’re experiencing right now. When we constantly see images of happiness and fun, our brain begins to create a template for what our summer “should” be like. Every time our own reality differs from this template, disappointment sets in.

Comparing ourselves to others is a natural human process. Through it, we try to understand our place in the world. However, social media has changed the rules of the game. In the past, we compared ourselves to just a few people in our immediate circle. Today, we compare ourselves daily to dozens or hundreds of people, seeing only the most carefully curated moments of their lives.

No one readily posts about the boring commute home, the loneliness of an afternoon, the exhaustion of a difficult day, or the moments of self-doubt they experience. What we see is a small, curated slice of reality. Nevertheless, we often treat it as if it were the whole picture.

This creates the illusion that others are constantly having a better time, traveling more, hanging out with more interesting people, or making the most of their summer in a more meaningful way. And the more we believe this image, the easier it becomes to undervalue our own experiences.

Often, the result isn’t just jealousy or disappointment. It’s a constant internal pressure to fill every day with activities, outings, and experiences. It’s as if there’s an invisible obligation to have the “perfect summer.” And yet, this pursuit of perfection often distances us from truly enjoying the moment.

When we constantly focus on what others are doing, we lose touch with what we truly need. Perhaps for some, the ideal summer is filled with travel and social activities. For someone else, it might be a few quiet days, more personal time, or simply the chance to rest after a demanding year. There’s no one “right” way to spend the summer, no matter how hard social media tries to convince us otherwise.

Recognizing this trap is the first and most important step. When we start to notice how our mood is affected by what we see on the screen, we gain greater freedom from it. We don’t need to stop using social media, but we should remember that it presents a curated narrative and not the whole truth.

Perhaps it’s worth asking ourselves: if we didn’t see what others are doing, how would we really want to spend this summer? The answer to that question is often very different from the one dictated by the images we consume every day.

Summer doesn’t have to be spectacular to be meaningful. It doesn’t have to be filled with photos, destinations, or experiences that will impress others. Its value lies not in how “good” it looks to the outside world, but in how authentically we experience it.

Perhaps, in the end, the greatest challenge isn’t to avoid missing out on an experience. It’s not missing out on our own experience by trying to live someone else’s life. And that’s something worth remembering every time the screen convinces us that summer is always somewhere else.

Thursday, 09 July 2026