I’ve been using social media since I was in middle school, and I have since developed a habit of checking my Instagram and Snapchat feeds multiple times a day. Through the years, I would hear my parents and teachers talk about how people shouldn’t be spending so much of their time on social media. Although I’ve always known that I shouldn’t, I never did anything about it because I was scared that I would be missing out if I stopped staying up to date with what everyone was doing.
This past summer I had more free time to do whatever I wanted, and I found myself spending hours on Instagram and Snapchat right when I woke up and before going to bed. After finally getting off my phone, not only would I realize how much of the day had already passed, but I also felt a sense of emptiness. No matter how long I spent scrolling and swiping, I never came out of it feeling that great about myself.
I’m back at college now, which has kept me very occupied with schoolwork and other activities, and since then I haven’t been spending so much time on the apps that I was used to visiting 4-5 times a day. It wasn’t a conscious effort to change my old habits, but rather something that just kind of happened as my life got busier. Sometimes I went days without going on social media, and when I did, I would only look through for a few minutes. After spending way less time on social media than I used to, I’ve noticed a huge shift in my mental health and my relationship with social media.
(Photo by Gilles Lambert on Unsplash)
Yes, I no longer see every single post or story on my feed when I go on Instagram or Snapchat, but I’ve been surprisingly okay with that! Not knowing about every little thing that goes on in everyone’s lives hasn’t really affected me at all. If anything, it has helped me realize that disconnecting isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.
I never really thought that I compared myself to other people on social media to a crazy extent. However, I do think that social media took a toll on my mindset about myself and my own life without me even knowing it. Constantly seeing people at their happiest, going to cool places or doing fun activities with their friends sometimes makes us feel as if we always need to be happy and having fun as well. After I stopped exposing myself to all of that every single day, I felt a lot happier with my own life. Not that I was unhappy with my life before, but I think that always seeing what other people were up to made me feel as if I had to keep up with how everyone else was living their life. And if I wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing, somehow I wasn’t good enough. That’s obviously not true, because it’s okay for us to live our lives however we want to live it! But social media definitely contributed to the added sense of judgement that I put on myself, because I would compare myself and my life to what I saw online.
(Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash)
Taking a big step away from my old social media habits changed how I use social media now. I always felt like I needed to show people that I was having fun or post any time I did something exciting. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with posting the best parts of yourself on social media, but I was stuck in the mindset of feeling like I had to constantly show how great my life was. After spending less time on social media, I’ve learned to not take it so seriously. I’ve learned to post because I want to, and not because I’m trying to prove something about myself to others. I’ve just been enjoying my life, not always focused on posting about it or thinking about how it needs to look for everyone else.
I don’t think I’d ever completely cut social media out of my life, because I like that they connect us and allow us to share our stories, but I no longer feel the need to go on it all the time. Breaking my old habits has me helped free my mind of the constant comparisons I was making to other people and just be happy about my life without needing to show other people as validation.
It’s okay to spend however much time you want on social media, but be cautious of how it might be impacting you! Remember that what you see on social media isn’t always a reflection of real life. If you ever feel like you need to take a little break from it all, don’t be afraid to take that step.