Social Media Kills

While the title of this is a little dramatic, it’s still a good concept to consider, does social media kill our mental well-being? From personal experience, social media can be an endless pit of scrolling through cute cat videos to seeing hatred in the world showcased by news articles. It can be a roller-coaster of emotions and it all happens in seconds as we continue to scroll from one story to the next. Social media provides us a way to view and keep in contact with our closest friends and relatives but it also allows you to see your high-school arch-nemesis who just got a new job at a company that you have been dying to work for. You can also see some of your classmates that were able to get into a master’s degree program that you weren’t selected for. All of this leads to feelings of defeat, depression, and ultimately the feeling of not being good enough as you continue to compare your life to someone that you might not even know or have close contact with.

We all know that the more friends you have on your social media, the fewer friends you probably have in real life. Socializing in physical real-world settings is no longer the best way to get in contact with someone that you haven’t spoken to in a while. We are all drawn into the convenience of sending a short 140 character text to someone to indicate that we “stay in touch”. Part of this could be due to the nature of the world in which we live in. As the cost of living rises, we are expected to rise our income with it. Instead of spending time at home or socializing, we are taking every opportunity to earn overtime and to show our “workaholic” ethic to get the next promotion and be seen as a team player by our manager. Therefore we aren’t interested in having coffee with a friend because we could network and grab coffee with someone that might further assist us with our career. This is the sad reality of the current world and the primary reason for encouraging this online life.

References:

Walton, A. G. (2017, October 3). 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/06/30/a-run-down-of-social-medias-effects-on-our-mental-health/#1ac4f3c62e5a.

3 comments

  1. We’re busy stuck on our phones, rather than looking up at the world around us. We share video of the concerts we attend and I’m not really sure who watches those. We post photos that took forever to perfect to garner favor from our “friends” who won’t recognize us on the street. We compare our lives with the perfected photos that our friends share. None of it is real life.

    Well, some of us are real. When I went through my very sad divorce, instead of painting a pretty picture that life is coming up roses, I was real. I posted that I was sad, that I needed a hug, that I was eating pizza and drinking beer in bed with my dog at 2PM on a Sunday because I was depressed. I posted that I went on a date and it was horrible. I didn’t want to sugar coat my experience because everyone else was doing that. Maybe my struggle would show someone that it’s okay to grieve, it’s okay to be sad, it’s okay to be a real human. And it did. I had so many messages from friends who were struggling with their own issues but they didn’t post about them. I had so many of my friends from around the world reach out regularly to check on me, which I sorely needed. By being a real person, I was able to get the support I needed during that time. I was new to the area so I didn’t have very many close friends but since I have lived in many places, I was able to stay connected with those who really matter because of social media. In a way, Facebook saved my life.

    So, where’s the line? I try to only be friends with people that I actually like and talk to. I only follow pages that are of interest to me and have uplifting content. I do follow a few news channels but I try to stick with unbiased sources. Do I get overwhelmed? Of course. Do I uninstall Facebook for a few weeks? Absolutely. Do I watch all of my friends “stories” everyday? I think I’ve only seen one on accident. Social media is a great way to stay connected with our friends that live far away or we cannot see regularly but it can also be very destructive if we do not keep our use under control.

  2. Alexandra Kalasky

    Social media has unfortunately taken over many of our lives and has become more like an addiction. It is quite frightening to think about our social media accounts as a ball and chain, but it has clearly become the truth for many. The pressures it brings have increasingly taken a toll on many people’s mental health like happiness and self-esteem. I agree that this is a sad reality we live in now where we avoid the real life and consume ourselves in the technological world. Preferring to socialize through the internet versus going out to a cafe or grabbing something to eat is something we are all guilty of and hopefully many come to realize that this is not a reality we want to live in. I have personally succumbed to the toxicity of social media, but thankfully pulled myself out and I genuinely noticed a difference in my well-being. I was no longer attached to my phone and worrying about my accounts and what others thought of me. It really was a relief to rid myself of social media and step back into the real world and I hope everyone who is stuck in that endless media pit will soon feel that same relief!

  3. Very interesting thought on social media usage. I know that I can constantly get into that pit of comparison as we scroll through facebook and seeing that “perfect” life of others. I know others that have been affected by this on the level of having to seek the help of psychosocial services such as CBT. We only post the things that make us look good. That vacation, the perfectly angled selfie, our night out with friends with everyone happy and close. We never seem to post “real” life. It’s not all sunsets and rainbows, so being immersed in this social media world of perfection can make the small defeats feel like total failures. How can we combat the negative mental well-being of social media?

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