I've heard lots of angry speeches about how society should stop obsessing over social media. The people that have tried to convince me to get on social media less are the people that don't understand it, don't like it anyway, and don't acknowledge the benefits.
Personally, I really enjoy using social media. On the other hand, I have also found myself getting unhealthily addicted to it. The reality is, social media is not a bad thing, but it can be used in bad ways. I'm not just talking about inappropriate content or cyber bullying. In fact, I would argue that the majority of people are using their social media in the wrong way.
First, I want to list some pros and cons of social media that help explain how we might be using our platforms in a negative way.
Pros and Cons of Social Media
Pro:
No one can deny that this age of social media has made it easier to stay connected with your friends. For the first time, when you move away or just grow apart from a friend, your interactions do not have to stop. Social media makes it possible to always see what your friends are up to. Not only that, but social media is a great way to encourage your friends as they share their lives with the world.
Con:
Constantly seeing what other people are doing/what they look like sets you up to compare yourself to others. It's so easy to feel like everyone is doing more than you or having more fun than you. Social media can also make you feel lonely or left out because you can see that your peers have more friends or more time to hang out than you do.
Pro:
Social media is a fantastic way to make professional connections (if that's what you're trying to do as opposed to just having a personal account). Businesses and professionals are becoming more and more involved on social media. You can promote yourself, your skills, and your creativity and it has the potential to get noticed by someone important.
Con:
It can be dangerous to use social media as a way to numb your brain or avoid pain. Scrolling through endless content that has little to no meaning or productivity for hours upon hours can become addicting and cause you to lose focus of reality and responsibility. Pain and responsibility do not go away just because you're staring at a screen.
Pro:
My personal favorite way to see social media being used is when people share their creativity and find joy in expressing themselves. It took me a long time to gather the courage to start this blog and to start a writing Instagram account, but it has been so fulfilling. You can get so inspired by following people in your favorite creative fields.
Con:
Many creatives, unfortunately, use their platform to try and prove something or portray themselves as something they're not. If you're only creating or sharing to gain approval and likes, you're not only being ingenuine, you're also encouraging others to do the same and hide their true selves. A consequence of this is that you rarely get to just enjoy a moment because you're trying to make it perfect to fit your brand.
Practical Ways to Limit Your Social Media and Use it Correctly
Now that I've pointed out how for every pro of social media there's a con, I hope you can see that it is not a black and white situation.
This winter, I realized that I was spending way too much time on social media and for the wrong reasons. I was using it to compare myself and numb my mind. It was a very impractical addiction and an obstacle to my mental health.
The platform I was most addicted to was Instagram, so I decided to stay off of it for a month. A month is not that long, but it was a big change for me. I thought it would be really hard, but it wasn't! I even started painting and writing more, which are two of my favorite hobbies that had been abandoned and replaced with social media.
After that month was over, I started to stay off of Instagram on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on every other day, I used the settings on my iPhone to set limits for how much time I can spend on it. This helps me only use social media for positive reasons because I'm trying to use my time wisely. It's also helpful for me to not get on social media early in the morning or right before I go to bed.
I also started to unfollow/unfriend/mute people that I didn't actually know that well or that post things that either annoy me or make me want to compare myself. This keeps my feed positive and friendly.
In the past, I felt very insecure about posting certain things about myself because I didn't want to be judged. Now, however, I've started only posting things I actually like and then not worrying about the popularity of it all. Being genuine on social media is much more fun than being fake.
Hopefully, you can relate to some of these and adapt how you spend your time on social media. There are endless possibilities, but be sure you're making good choices for yourself and for others on social media.
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