Social media is the one thing it seems no one can live without. We use Facebook to catch up with relatives, Twitter to catch up with the news, Tumblr to blog about whatever random thing we’re obsessed with, Snapchat to quickly talk to our friends, and Instagram to post pictures, see what our friends are doing, follow celebrities and stalk our crushes (although that last one might just be me). And when we’re not on the many apps out there, we always hear about how much social media is harming us. The truth is, there is a lot of good that can come out of social media. It can truly create some heartwarming moments, and it allows us to meet and connect with people all over the world. But social media does have its pitfalls, and if we’re spending so much time on these apps, then it’s important to discuss the negatives, and how to ignore them. This is especially important as we begin to realize the effects social media has on our mental health.
The first and most obvious one: Social media can be an easy way for harassment and bullying to occur. Behind an anonymous screen, anyone can say anything, and words will always hurt us. It oftentimes doesn’t happen, but that makes it more jarring when it does. Our social media should be a carefully curated feed of what makes us happy, so don’t feel afraid to hit the “block” or “report” button if anything like this happens. Your own happiness and peace of mind comes before anything else. On the same level, if you are recommended posts or accounts to follow that you simply dislike, make sure you “hide” the posts. This allows the app to stop recommending material that you’re not interested in. You should never be afraid to do any of these things!Social media can also be a pretty potent way to experience FOMO. We follow people who seem to lead perfect lives, with the perfect clothes, and perfect friends, and a perfect everything. But the truth is that no one is really perfect, and we all have insecurities and fears. But almost no one posts these things on their accounts, and that makes it super easy to believe they’re perfect. There’s a lot of problems out there with the pictures that get posted on social media- they’re oftentimes heavily filtered, and altered so much they don’t resemble a realistic person. So don’t take everything you see on the Internet at face value, and remember that you are the best version of you.An effect of social media that is rarely spoken about is the validation that people receive from their posts. It’s almost second nature to post positive comments under our friends posts, and to expect them from others. Of course, we should lift up our friends, and expect them to have our backs as well. But as Taylor Swift mentioned in her essay for Elle, it can become easy to become addicted to the positive, well-meaning comments. That’s a dangerous side effect as well. It can become really hard to stop wanting that positive validation, which ultimately is just going to harm us. So sometimes it’s important to know when to step away from the social media and talk to your friends in person, or just even take a break for yourself.With social media, we’ve had incredible experiences that would have been unimaginable for our parents. But it’s still important to know that there are downsides to it, and that we need to take every step back sometimes to protect ourselves and our emotional and mental well-being. Remember that you come first, and you are allowed to take whatever steps are necessary to make yourself feel your best!