Social media is a big part of everyday life, it seems as though we literally cannot live without it. I can’t even remember what life was like before there was social media and today, we can barely go an hour without checking Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or Facebook. Sure social media has its benefits, but there are plenty of reasons to go on a Social media detox every now and then.
Social media distorts our perception of reality
I’m sure a lot of us have heard this multiple times, but it remains a fact that a lot of what we see on social media isn’t 100% real; posts are doctored and edited to make it seem more glamorous or perfect. No one posts their struggles and hardships on social media and because of this, we begin to have distorted perceptions about life in general.
It makes us compare ourselves to others
Because we develop distorted realities based on what we see on social media, this leads to greater potential for harming our self-esteem and confidence. We see all this perfection on social media which makes us more conscious of our own failures and flaws in life; we continuously compare ourselves to others based on superficial images which lead to certain unrealistic expectations we may hold for ourselves.
Our happiness starts to depend on others
Constantly using social media forces us into a mindset that we must receive validation from others and our happiness begins to depend on what other people think about us.
It’s distracting
With constant social media use, we are prevented form actually paying attention to whatever it is in life we are experiencing in that moment. Sure it’s okay to post once or twice when you’re out at a concert or a fun trip with friends for future reminiscing, but if all you care about the whole time you are out is making sure other people on social media, half of whom you probably don’t even know personally, know what you are up to, maybe it’s time to take a break from social media because you are missing out on amazing moments in your own life.