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How many of us enjoy living and accumulating experiences without obligatorily pressing upload? Or let me put it this way, how many of us click pictures for ourselves and how many of us click it for Facebook?
We all know the answer. Now days everything we do is more or less for our Facebook page. Social media is one powerful tool to express but we misuse it to impress. It has given us incredible power to maintain relationships across the world. But have you noticed one thing, obsession to social media has brought lot of distress and has proven to be a hindrance in maintaining our mental peace.
First question that all social media addicts must ask themselves is, “Are you really who you portray to be?” Excessive advantages of self promotion and cross-cultural connections have raised this issue of gap between real you and virtual you. In my experience with social media I have noticed few immensely disruptive effects of it on general people. It was initiated to widen the horizons of communication and undoubtedly it has proven to be dramatically transforming and revitalizing in the realm of mass communication but sadly it has now become a manipulative outlet that feeds off the most vulnerable esteems of its users. It redefines our lifestyle at the cost of losing solid sense of self-identification.
All our life we generally try to narrow the bridge between who we really are and whom we aspire to become which is generally a “perfect ideal person”. Social media provides privilege to put up a face we always wanted to but that is just on our virtual walls. Sadly we confuse it with our real selves and end up having unrealistic expectation that leads to immense overpowering of our alter ego to an extent that the voice of reality becomes inaudible.
No one ever shows how sad they are or how often they cry to their pillows or how hard they work to meet ends. People will always show how happy they are or parties they attended but that does not necessarily mean they are perfectly happy in their lives. Everyone on Internet is selling you a dream, something that you want for yourself and see someone else having it. You wish a life that someone else has it and someone else aspires to live yours. So don’t compare yourself with anyone especially looking at his or her social media presence. Don’t mindlessly consume yourself in a social media perception that you have acquired at the cost of loosing a sight of real attributes and sense of self worth.
” Perfection is figurative” so rigidly looking forward to it can be a threat to your equilibrium. There will always be someone taller, richer or better looking than you but they might lack what you have so do not ruin your inner peace by driving self-comparisons. Don’t let social media provoke your hunger for validation it will leave a catastrophic impact on you lowering your self esteem, generating negative emotions and depression.
“Body dysmorphia” is another area, which has been affected by social media as per studies conducted by Dr. Bryony Bamford. It revels that high amount of time spent on Facebook may lead to body image insecurity which can lead to depression.
I nowhere suggest boycotting social media completely. It is essential not only for communication but also keeping ourselves updated with things happening around the world. I simply suggest using it with caution. Not letting it influence us in any manner. Healthy use of social media can be extremely fruitful. Just limit your time on social media so that you can get some time to yourself.
Written by -Shaiva Pandya
