I’ve struggled with the idea that while I love some aspects of social media, it can really damage your mental state. We all have been, or have known, someone who was bullied on social media. But now the new enemy is ourselves. We all want to look our best on Instagram, we all want to look cool on Snapchat stories, and…well let’s face it, no one uses Facebook, but we ALL hate when our mom tags us in a memory from like 6 years ago when you looked like a troll. So, we spend 30 minutes editing our pictures, choosing the right selfie with the perfect angle, search Buzzfeed for the best captions, and then, with bated breath, send it out into the world. With every like, we feel ourselves become happier and feel some sort of validation. “Okay, so I AM pretty, good to know.”
And we don’t just feel bad when we’re struggling to get the perfect picture of our cute outfit. The same effect happens when we scroll and see someone else’s cute outfit and then look down to our oversized t-shirt from a thrift shop and the sweatpants we stole from our mom (sorry mom). We think to ourselves, “man I wish I were ___.” I swear this is the most dangerous sentence in the English universe, right next to, “wanna bet?” We immediately start to take apart our own lives, looking at what we eat, how we work out, how much money we have, etc. We judge ourselves completely on one photo of someone else who is probably just hoping she gets to 70 likes.
It’s a mess. I just started an Instagram to promote my articles and also to have a semi-professional page to post positivity and also get a little political. And while I love it, and I’m excited to have started it, I find myself worrying about the theme. I scroll through Pinterest looking for pink, yellow, and then black/white themed photos to post in order. I wanted to post fall-like pictures with pumpkins and leaves but found myself worrying about breaking from the theme and whether or not people would think it looked bad. I’ve stopped posting on my Snapchat story completely, mostly because I just dislike Snapchat, but also I’m tired of wanting views or posting a photo or video for that “one person” that never actually looks at it. Social media has intertwined itself into almost every aspect of our lives. And while sometimes it’s a wonderful tool for news, and making connections with people, it can also be detrimental to how much you enjoy life. While scrolling through Instagram, we find ourselves comparing each person’s life to our own. Whether it’s living style, vacations, relationships, clothes, fitness, the list continues.
It is so important to give yourself time away from that. If we constantly compare our lives to others, we will never truly appreciate our own. Take that perfect picture of that Instagram model with a grain of salt. Like and log off.