3 Ways Social Media is Ruining Your Life
How much is too much?
1. It’s Taking Time Away From Your Friends And Family.
Admit it. You’ve checked how many likes you got on that selfie you posted on Instagram when you’re with a group of friends or visiting your family. We’ve never been more connected and linked than now but one can argue we’ve never been so distant.
It’s easy to get caught up in endless scrolling on TikTok.. guilty. Or continuous reading through your timeline on Facebook to see that your friends from school are all getting married and having babies.
Time with our loved ones is invaluable and irreplaceable. I see so many people nowadays buried in their phone out to eat with their SO, or at a family gathering.
Put your phone away and enjoy the moment and appreciate the time you do have with the people that mean the most. You’ll be happy you did.
2. You’re Changing The Way You Perceive Yourself.
Someone once told me, “a flower doesn't think of competing with the flower next to it, it just blooms”. You start to lose your confidence and uniqueness once you start comparing yourself to other people.
With Social Media, we often compare our lives and ourselves to what other people are putting out online for the world to see. We compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. When you fall into this toxic trap, we often define our value and only feel as worthy as how many “likes” or “comments” we receive.
Take away Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.. a lot of influencers and models and people in general would crumble because they don’t have someone in their DMs or comments telling them they’re worth something.
We spend too much time trying to fit in and be liked by other people and get the right angle on that selfie to optimize the amount of attention we receive. As a result, people can forget who they are or how to love themselves and what makes them happy.
3. Social Media Has An Effect On Your Mental Health.
It can become an addiction. Psychologists estimate that as many as 5 to 10% of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction today. Studies have linked the use of social media to depression, anxiety, poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem.
As humans, we all have fundamental needs of feeling loved and having a sense of belonging. Those that are addicted, become addicted to that feeling of fitting in and the attention they receive.. releasing dopamine, the happy chemical in our brains whenever friends, family, and strangers interact with us online.
Like any addict, we continue to chase that feeling of validation and added sense of self-worth we get from social media interaction. It ignites an insatiable hunger to continue to grow our following and outreach to more people to interact with. This can be very toxic for our real-life relationships.
I’ve personally been there. When you feel depressed, lonely, and just needing someone to reach out and talk to, social media can be that escape. But the people around us are the ones we need the most, spending time together and talking with our friends and loved ones do wonders for our health and happiness.
Social Media can be a great way to network, meet new friends, reconnect with old ones, and grow our businesses. True happiness comes from within and once you realize you’re far superior to needing others to validate you and be your source of happiness.. every aspect of your life opens up.
