As the generation that grew up on social media, our idea of keeping tabs on our friends, family and colleagues depends heavily on the availability of a social media profile and regular updates on their stories.
As great as this is to keep up with old friends who you wouldn’t otherwise interact with on a daily basis, what we forget is that social media is an archive of our happiest moments.
We immortalise our most joyous memories, our greatest achievements.
So, when we’re having a bad day or even just a rough time at work or school or at home, we stumble upon a series of these happy, successful, busy stories and we tend to feel inadequate, a little jealous or maybe even frustrated.
It is important to remember that everyone has good days and bad days and to detach your self-worth from social media and not give it the ability to alter your mood or your mental state. It is after all a medium to communicate through photographs and minutes of video, it is not the whole truth.
Some days we just can’t stop ourselves from scrolling through the endless feed knowing full well that it will not bring any good, I like to call this “doom-scrolling”, it will probably make you feel worse if you’re already having a bad day. It is a hard habit to break, especially something as addictive as social media.
Setting time limits on your devices and strictly sticking to them is a good start. If you’re feeling adventurous, go ahead and delete the app off your phone. Take a break, see how your mood improves and you gain clarity unshrouded by constant distractions.
Understand that everything you see on social media is not the whole picture, it seems so silly that you could make yourself feel inadequate purely from assumptions based off snippets of someone’s life.
Stay wary of doom-scrolling and remember that you are more than your social media.
Taking care of yourself includes knowing what triggers your anxiety and affects your mood. It takes a lot of effort to make a change but in the end it’s for you and you will never regret making life better for yourself.
Written By - Ananya Murli
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