iMportance of a social Media Break
I find that social media has become a somewhat scary and unpredictable realm filled with criticism, backlash, and self-doubt. Lately, the more time I spend on social media, the more miserable and lost I feel. Especially on instagram, scrolling through it seems more like self-sabotage than getting inspiration nowadays. The first few scrolls consists of friends on vacation with sun-kissed skins and bright smiles, the next few could be of gorgeous models or celebrities living the perfect life(or what seems to be) daily, and the further I scroll the more distressed and anxious I begin to feel.
I am only 22 and I can’t even begin to imagine what the future holds. If technology is affecting me this way, I’m beginning to feel worried of its repercussions in the near future. I am so lucky to be alive at an age where I can connect with people at the click of a button or a swipe (*cough* throwback to online dating days *cough*), but I think that if we’re not careful we can get sucked into believing in a false reality where minute things that shouldn’t matter at all, matter, and relationships, self-esteem, and our own mental health are put on the line.
The amount of time that miscommunications have taken place because a text was read out-of-context has led to pointless arguments with boyfriends, friends and the number of times I’ve felt like s*** because I feel like I’m missing out on “cool parties” or because I don’t feel hot, pretty, or popular enough in comparison to others, and just not enough at all. This pretty much sums up how social media can affect an individual socially and emotionally.
This year, I went on a mild social media detox where I unfollow and unfriend people I don’t feel were of a necessity for me to be in constant contact with for the sake of my own mental health and stability. I believe that social media should be something we can just casually check in the middle of our lunch break to maybe put our restless mind at ease, instead of giving us a negative connotation of our own lives.
This year, I went on a mild social media detox where I unfollow and unfriend people I don’t feel were of a necessity for me to be in constant contact with for the sake of my own mental health and stability. I believe that social media should be something we can just casually check in the middle of our lunch break to maybe put our restless mind at ease, instead of giving us a negative connotation of our own lives.
There is also more to life than social media, as cliche as this may sound. I don’t know if this is an age thing but these days I would rather just enjoy my time with friends and just catch up, rather than trying to record/snap our every moment. I have also taken up other hobbies including painting, baking, cooking, sketching, writing (on an actual paper with a pen, I know...SHOCKING), and I’ve even taught myself some pilates. I find it important that we never stop learning no matter how trivial it may be. Furthermore, I don’t want to tell my children that I spent most of my 20s still just scrolling through Instagram, snapchatting random things, and gossiping about boys on messenger like I did when I was 16. So yea, whoever reading this, please know that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you have 1 million followers on Instagram or if you get over a thousand likes on a Facebook post, sure it may make you feel good for like 15 minutes of your day but that’s basically it. What counts is how you invest your time in people and life goals that actually matter, social media is just an added bonus. |