TOXIC COMPARISON

TOXIC COMPARISON

Toxic comparison is a habit that’s as old as time. Sure, social media has given us more raw materials to compare to, but there’s nothing new about the urge to compare. As humans, we’re hardwired to compare ourselves to others in our group; to benchmark our successes and failures against others. It’s an evolutionary hangover from times when we lived in tribes and understanding our place in the social order was key to survival.

Nowadays, comparing ourselves to others is more likely to keep us stuck. This is whether we’re doing what psychologists call downward comparison (comparing ourselves to those less fortunate) or upward comparison (comparing ourselves to those we envy.) Both of these types of comparison can be bad for the brain.