Social Media has become an integral part of life; I cannot even fathom the amount of time that gets spent on the various platforms each day. With social media, you are connected to more people than you ever would’ve been in the past. It can also open many doors for career opportunities.
Of course, much like everything else in life, moderation is key regarding social media usage. Too much can impact your overall mental health. There have even been instances where individuals have dealt with withdrawal issues when they haven’t been able to access their favourite platform.
In this post, I will be sharing the ways that social media has impacted my mental state in the past.
Chronic Procrastination
I have lost track of how much time I have wasted by aimlessly scrolling through my social media apps. I will attempt to convince myself that I’m only going to have a brief glance at an app. Before I know it, I feel as if I have gone down a rabbit hole, and at least an hour has eluded me, time that would’ve been better used on something productive.
It often leaves me feeling guilty for wasting my time; I have other commitments in my life, and such time wasting is detrimental.
Stalking Exes
We’ve all been guilty of this at least once. There’s no sugarcoating it; breakups are horrendous experiences. Especially if you’re on the receiving end of it. It is self-destructive behaviour and only results in your feelings feeling hurt.
I’d always check on ex-partners pages to see if they were “doing better” without me. Of course, I’d only end up in tears seeing them out and about without me. One of my past relationships ended because of cheating. Then the ex carried on with the person. I’d always check to see if they had separated, then feel heartbroken seeing them with their new partner. Even worse, it pained me seeing how happy they looked together.
Unhealthy Comparison
All too often, I’ll find myself comparing myself, and my life to others that I see on social media. I have wound up feeling distraught on more than one occasion. Likes, followers and similar things like that have left me feeling like less of a person.
It has left me feeling unlikeable that I could share something and gain little interaction compared to another person, who would gain a plethora of responses for something simple.
It can be difficult to separate social media from the real world during a low spell. I often felt “behind” compared to others my age.
Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)
This is the thing I struggle with the most. I’m always afraid of missing something on social media, namely Facebook.
Facebook is the social media platform that impacts my mental health the most. There are so many toxic subjects shared on my timeline by friends, or even worse, relatives. It is draining. Yet, if I deactivate my personal account, the thought of missing anything will feed my anxiety.
People tend to share their lives online these days; what if I miss a family announcement? What if people stop contacting me because I don’t have my Facebook account, I have had experiences where people said they weren’t sure how to talk to me when I closed my Facebook page. These people have all my contact information, but me not being online completely threw them.
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