Green with Envy
Article and Playlist by: Ben Ramakrishnan
“I’m so sick of myself / Rather be, rather be / Anyone, anyone else”
-Olivia Rodrigo, “jealousy, jealousy”
Introduction
We all have somebody we compare ourselves to. Perhaps it’s a friend, a classmate, or an acquaintance. Maybe somebody famous or someone on the internet. It could even be a stranger you met once on the street and nodded no more than a simple “hello” to. Sometimes it’s not even one physical person, but more the idea of who they could be - and who you aren’t. We constantly see others who seem to be doing so much better than us, or are seemingly prettier than us, or somehow happen to be insanely smart or immensely gifted in an art or sport. We as humans see these people who we put on a pedestal and believe to be so superior to us, not as motivation to attempt to work on the skills that we want that we see in others, but as a means by which to put ourselves down. The most inferior person in our eyes is, more often than not, ourselves. What’s more is that the epidemic of envy is most contagious in teenagers.
Envy in Teens
Teenagers are the most susceptible to being envious of, well, almost everyone that they are surrounded by. Teenagers have incredibly impressionable minds. Have you ever seen a piece of information on the internet and passively believed it to be true and sometime in the future realized that it was, in fact, misinformation? It is the same concept where, since our minds are not fully developed, our first instinct is not to question the issues brought to hand. Our critical reasoning skills are not fully developed yet and we therefore are unable to grasp the fact that we are not the largest problem or burden in the world. Sure, we are all flawed, but so is everybody else that we compare ourselves to.
In Olivia Rodrigo’s song “lacy” from her sophomore album GUTS, she grants the name Lacy to the girl that she compares herself to. Whether Lacy is based on a real person or is loosely a representation of what she represents, it is fair to say that everybody has or has had a “Lacy” before in their lives. Somebody that they envy - and the amount in which the envy spans can range from little to extreme - and cannot seem to stop comparing themselves to. But the fact is that every Lacy has their own Lacy. This cycle continues endlessly. Every person that we compare ourselves to is also comparing themself to another person. Though the struggle is still fully valid and absolutely a cause of suffering, lack of self-esteem, and poor mental health for many teenagers, no one is alone in this struggle. Comparison is a universally shared experience and whether people wish to admit it or not, most people struggle with the same phenomenon.
My Playlist
My playlist aims to bring light to the highly prevalent comparison culture that has perpetuated further in our modern teenage world with the rapid powers of technology. I want to destigmatize this once taboo topic of jealousy towards others. Though it is important to not act bitter and hateful in response to this jealousy, the jealousy itself is a fully normal experience which I feel is not talked about enough in the current day. Ironically, right now is when we should be talking the most about comparison culture because it is worse than ever. Through listening to this playlist, I hope it can provide insight and validation to those who feel alone in their struggle against envy and comparison.
Listen here! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TL2woDUMJTWOgVVU0nheZ?si=d9KSoi50Qm6EI46itCCOVQ&pi=u-RcrjStPySMqe
