If anyone knows me, they know I absolutely love social media. If you’re the kind of person that loves taking pictures, posting, seeing what other people are doing, viewing the latest trends, reading up on travel, and all the endless possibilities that social media gives us—this one’s for you. Social media is extremely overwhelming and is easy to get caught up in the never-ending scrolling cycle of your feed. As Facebook would say, my relationship status update would be “It’s Complicated.” It’s extremely addictive and I know I’m not the only one who thinks it’s hard to put their phone down… More and more people are coming to the realization of the dark side of social media. I have thought of taking a break from social media, but I am haunted by the thought of missing out. And FOMO is real people.
LESS SCROLLING, MORE LIVING
@CREWANDCO
So why do I have a love-hate relationship with social media? There’s definitely two ways to view social media. On one hand I absolutely adore it and use it for having fun and posting about what I am up to or just communicating with friends and getting inspired. On the other hand, it honestly drains the life out of me. It creates so many complexities that I had no idea about until the moment I unlocked my phone. Research is showing that the more time an individual spends on their phone scrolling through social media, the more likely they are to report feelings of loneliness. But social media is meant to connect people, right?
In my opinion, social media does not offer real friendship. It offers us a moment of interaction, but no connection. This means that sure, anyone can see what I am doing and like or comment on my picture, but those people haven’t shared the experience with me in that moment in time. Interacting with people through social media may help the relationship and friendship itch in a way we all think we need, but it doesn’t truly satisfy the deep longing humans need to feel and be known by others.
Social media does connect us with so many inspiring people around the globe. I get to see posts that inspire me to either: 1. buy the same outfit as the girl on my feed (LOL), or 2. inspire me to do something similar with my own photography and creative abilities. Scrolling through Instagram and seeing stunning girls dressed in the most stylish clothing is definitely what I look for the most. I take inspiration from and create my own inspired looks, most of which become repeated looks in my wardrobe that I wear daily! There are also many inspiring women I follow that are tackling important world issues that impact us greatly as society today. The women that put their creative positive spin on horrific things or put their foot down and say “enough is enough.” The women that help others out all the time with tips and tricks to get through life, I always love looking out for this on my feed.
Also, because we strive to create an audience on social media, we end up pushing ourselves more than what we previously did. I’ve seen first hand people’s Instagrams accounts go from everyday random pictures using one of those horrible Instagram filters to jaw-dropping professional photography that is informative and inspiring. Social media definitely can motivate individuals to create beautifully edited and composed content. On Twitter, there can be informative discussions on controversial and hard topics such as race, sexuality, politics and other topics that create the most educational discussions amongst different individuals.
Naturally, there’s always a downside to everything in life. It’s easier said than done telling yourself “I am 100 percent content with who I am, how I look and what I do.” Yes, there’s definitely parts of me that I love about myself and parts of me that I am proud of. But, unfortunately at times social media can bring out the worst in me. Why don’t I work out more, why didn’t I work harder, why don’t you buy the bag, why aren’t I getting opportunities like these other girls are, why am I not currently in Cancun. It’s definitely hard personally, but even worse when you see it happen to other people too. I always block or mute people but little things always manage to creep through and I hate seeing rude comments.
If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you see what I want you to see. I even have multiple different pages with completely different purposes and aesthetics. Therefore, I post what I want to post depending on my “brand” of the page. I’ll admit it, I diligently and carefully think about what content to share across my social media platforms. This doesn’t necessarily mean I am being fake, but through time I have understood that through my platforms I should be posting very positive, healthy, stylish and fashionable posts because I know that’s what my followers are expecting from me. The flip side to this is that not everything in life is all sunshine and happiness. You will never see me posting about my heartaches, my hurdles, my failures, my disappointments and anger. This is the problem with social media, it doesn’t offer real connection, only a facade. Within ten minutes of scrolling through multiple people’s feeds, I already become convinced that everyone else is living a better life than me. Overall, I do not think there is anything wrong with showing the good parts in life, after all we definitely need to celebrate those times. However, we need to realize that we cannot fall into the trap of comparison through other peoples lives when viewing them on social media.
Limit the time you spend on social media and log on with a purpose.
The two main perspectives I hope you take away from my article today is to try to limit the time you spend on social media and log on with a purpose. Only log into social media when you have free time or dedicate specific time to post your content while still enjoying life in the moment in real perspectives. Once you take the time to focus on spending less time on social media, you’ll automatically want to log on and post with purpose. You’ll want to become intentional with the time you spend.
All in all, the positives of social media far outweighs the negatives. It’s engaging, amusing and downright addicting. I’ve become addicted to looking at other people’s lives and by default have myself compared to them. I definitely need to stop focusing on the bad rather than appreciating and utilizing the good of social media. We are all trying to figure out our lives one moment, one day and one step at a time. Social media needs to be used in a way to enhance and enrich our lives! To raise awareness, to come together. And mostly, to connect with each other.