I know, this is a pretty heavy topic, but it is something I have come to notice affecting how I carry myself in everyday life. Social media is an incredible place to show your creativity, what interests you, and it is a great way to connect with others. It sounds pretty great, and trust me, I think there are great intentions behind social media platforms. But, with that being said, here is why I feel that social media causes a lot of harm on the mental health and physical health of its users.
As someone who has been on social media since 2013, I feel like I can speak on how this has affected me, as well as those around me. In the beginning, I had no care for what anyone thought of what I posted, because, well, it was 2013. No one really posted what is posted on social media platforms today. The general dynamic in 2013 was to update people with your life and to post what you want. Today, however, people are cautious about what they post on their accounts, even if they really want to post something. This caution, I believe, is caused by the influencer-effect.
Everyone has a part of them that wants to be seen as an influencer. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the term “influencer” and influencer is someone who has a large audience on their social media platforms. They get tons of traction on their pages due to their large amount of followers and likes. Influencers tend to have perfect pictures of themselves, with the perfect body, face, and, in general, make their lives seem perfect. It is ridiculous to say that someone can have a perfect life because as the great Hannah Montana says “Nobody’s Perfect”. This “perfect” lifestyle mentality has greatly affected our generation, from mental health to body insecurity.
Now, I will talk about my personal experience and struggles associated with social media. As I have stated before, social media platforms, specifically Instagram, are toxic in the ways they promote influencers with the perfect lifestyle, and how this causes people to be cautious of showing their real self online. In high school, I had one goal on my Instagram: to get as many likes as I could. This form of comparison really diminished my overall self-worth and consumed my life. As someone who grew up in this great age of technology and the internet, my own mental health has been affected by social media. I developed tons of insecurities about how I look, my lifestyle, my clothing, etc. over the past few years. I also have forced myself to wait to post something until it’s been a “reasonable” time since my last post. The culture on Instagram specifically has caused me to be super self-cautious about myself, in how I dress, present myself, and act, just in case someone takes a picture with me that could be posted. The culture of social media constantly promotes comparison to others, which is ultimately my point.
Comparing yourself to others is one of the most damaging things you can do to your mental health. I realized this a few months ago, so I decided to just not care what people think anymore. Ok, I’ll admit, I do care what people think of me, and I think that’s a part of human nature. What I mean by not caring is that I post what I want, when I want, because, at the end of the day, it is my social media page, not anyone else’s. If something makes me happy or is interesting, I’ll post it because I want to, not because I want to see how many people would like my post. If you are dealing with this mental battle against the effects of social media, I hope you can take something away from this because I know it’s a hard place to be in.