How could something so revelatory and trendy like social media affect your mental well-being? Isn’t it supposed to destress and entertain you, or at least not to have an impact on you at all? I’m afraid it could affect the mental health and could lead to some cases of anxiety or FOMO ( fear of missing out ).
Don’t get me wrong, social media is inevitable, everyone is using it and will continue to use it, and there is nothing wrong with that. But to know how to avoid the risks is even better.
First of all, social media could induce a state of self-comparison with the posts we see. It happened to everyone and never led to self development, but anxiety or even closure oneself. To avoid that I try to admire someone’s beauty without questioning my own and to accept my flaws. In order to do that, I keep in mind that life is not a competition and no one should be the same. You should not compare your life with someone else. Being different is what makes us beautiful.
Second of all, fear of missing out is also something I’ve been struggling with. Seeing people you know doing so many things, going out, learning and traveling makes you question yourself. How could they be so socially active while I’m just at home? It happens to not have an activity sometimes and that is perfectly ok. For every time I feel like I’m missing out on something I think that I will have many opportunities in the future to socialize with those people and I come to the realization that it is not more fun nor is it healthier to go out every weekend, and I started enjoying the nights in.
Social media also shows influential people who you may not know in real life. They could create a false reality to make themselves look better. Not everything we see online is real and many times we could get in the trap of believing every post we see. Faking the perfect life-style or appearances is very common through social media these days and we should select the information we hear and try to tell the lies from reality. From my experience with social media I realized there is a difference between the person we see on the screen from the person that lives their own life and if I can learn something from that person, I do, but I never let anything affect me.
I don’t know if it’s just me but I still have sometimes the feeling of anxiety or the fear of missing out and these tips really helped me. And remember, it doesn’t mean faking, but just coming to these realizations.
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