Is social media keeping you depressed? Are you spending too much time browsing and scrolling through facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat to look at friends, co-workers and old class mates living their best life. How often to you come across a page of someone celebrating a wedding anniversary, a graduation, or relaxing on vacation with family? Do you allow these images to make you evaluate your own life?
We often look at these images and began to compare them to our own lives. Even if we are happy for our old classmate's wedding, or baby shower, we still tend to think "what about me?"
Or "when am I going to find the love of my life or go back to school to get that master's degree."
We have a tendency to live vicariously through others and sabotage ourselves if we are not making progress at the same pace as others. This can lead to shame, guilt and depression.
The truth is, people can create the perfect life on social media. The happy couple laying on a sandy beach is not going to announce that their vacation will take 3 years to pay off. The happy newly weds will not broadcast how they are struggling financially. We do not see what's really going on behind the smiles, parties, expensive trips, and special engagements.
We cannot allow the lives of others to make us feel unworthy or feel unaccomplished. It's human nature to compare your life to others, but the truth is, you are comparing your life to a lie. You are comparing yourself to another person's image they created for their followers. This can make you feel like you are not accomplished if you are comparing yourself to others.
Take breaks from social media. I know social media can be addictive and a way to kill time, but a few days off can help you evaluate your life and future. Always remember that things are not always the way they appear on social media. A person in debt can make themselves look like a millionaire through pictures. An unhappy family can make themselves appear to be a perfect model family. You cannot compare yourself to a bunch of happy images. This is self sabotaging and it only leads to depression. Especially if you already suffer from depression, watching people portray perfection will not help your mental state.
I 100% agree with you and I've fallen into the trap of comparison myself! The thing that helped me was to make my own highlights. I took time to look at how good my life was, and documented it (both on social media and at home in albums). When the desire to compare comes again, I simply remind myself that my life in someone else's eyes is pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear. Glad you were able to take a step back and highlight your own accomplishments. Sometimes we tend to compare ourselves with others without looking at the hardships they went through. Or we may not know, that they are going through some of the same struggles as ourselves.
ReplyDeleteCouldnt agree with you more. Moderation is key in everything in life.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a good reminder. It is so easy to get jealous and down on yourself when scrolling through social media. No one has a perfect life, no matter what it may seem like from photos! Great post.
ReplyDeleteLove this! I usually take a break from Facebook a couple times a year! Good reset.
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to minimize my screen time
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