Social Media Stress

I spent the better part of my afternoon scrolling through Instagram and figuring out ways to make my profile more aesthetically pleasing because I like curating it to look a certain way for me. However, I have noticed social media can be very weird. These days, it can be quite toxic with each passing post and it seems like everyone is trying to one-up someone else. I find it all exhausting at this point. I used to visit social media as an escape from my stressful reality but now I use reality to escape the insanity of social media. I tend to filter what I let into my eyes and mind so I mute a lot of pages but before I got into that head space, I was so controlled by everything I would see and think of all the things I had to do or post to be perceived in a certain manner.

Social media can be a lot of people hiding behind screens and being who or what they are not but there are a lot of people growing and becoming the best versions of themselves. I personally feel everybody should get what exactly they need to grow, be happy and keep it moving. Certain aspects of social media can be very stressful but I also have seen these things in real life. Some of such being; bullying, slut shaming, exposing sensitive information, racism, elitism, sexism, harassment, lying and stealing to maintain a lifestyle. All these things are wrong but it is so much easier to do these things on social media because everything is amplified and glamourized without anyone really taking accountability for their actions.

I don’t believe in blaming social media for the toxicity people show but I believe it’s quite a solid medium for people to show who they really are. A lot of things that can never be said in someone’s face can be said on these apps because there is a barrier that gives a level of protection to weird people which explains why gossip pages and "expose" columns have such a huge following. This has led to people immediately becoming defensive or wanting to attack before they’re attacked or even leading to extreme depression. We have a responsibility to not be a part of a crowd that viciously attacks people that are just trying to live a regular life.

I’m very big on being positive and owning everything you say. If everyone just focused on being happy and posting their cute pictures instead of throwing insults or attempting to drag someone or be a savage or waiting to tear someone down, I feel we would be a saner community but will that ever happen?

In my opinion, I think we need to take breaks from time to time and think before we post or react to posts. Remember that these things do not define who you really are. Just do what you really want to do to be happy and do not put pressure on yourself trying to fit in. 

Only do the things that will elevate and give you joy but when you get overwhelmed, get off these apps and get a hobby or something.