Bergün/Bravuogn, Switzerland – the self-proclaimed most beautiful place on earth has banned tourists from taking pictures. Their reason:
[the town] is just far too beautiful and posting photos of it on social media will cause others to feel depressed they are not there.
According to a statement by the local village tourist office,
“It is scientifically proven that beautiful holiday photos on social media make the viewer unhappy because they cannot be there themselves,”
The new law, which has just been voted in on Monday, would see tourists risking a fine of 5 Swiss Francs (A$7) if they were caught. The ‘proceeds’ will help to protect the landscape. The town has since removed pictures from their own Facebook and Instagram accounts.
I did a quick search on Flickr and indeed, is a very very very charming town. The following are a few pictures I plucked off from Flickr. You can follow the owners if you click on them, the pictures are not mine.
Talking about depression, I came across an article mentioning that if one spends too much of their time on social media(s), it can lead to depression. The leading explanation was that if a person was dissatisfied with his or her life, browsing through social media and looking at their peers who seemed to be leading a much more fulfilling life than we are, whether our peers are giving a false impression or not, are going to make us feel worse than before we started looking at those social media posts.
I think too much of anything is bad. And before we browse through the numerous and envying the (un)glamorous lifestyle posts of those on social media, maybe we should first be thankful of what we have in our life instead of comparing what we lack. Never believe everything that you see online. Most of the time, people show their best moments – nobody likes to air their dirty laundry online – not necessary having a better life than you are.
So idyllic in winter too.
