The pressure of Social Media impacts our wellbeing more than we know. We are constantly switched on, never spending time with our own thoughts. The minute we have some time alone, the phone is out and we are scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. and the next thing we know hours have passed and we don’t know where the time has gone. Social Media can be a great tool for learning and sharing but it’s scary the amount of time we spend living on a virtual platform instead of living real life. I went to the cinema last week and there was a girl of about 15 and her mother sitting beside us, on Instagram for the majority of the movie. Can we not put down the phones for 2 hours? It’s frightening.
What worries me the most about spending so much time on these platforms are the comparisons we begin to make. A blogger who has quit their 9 – 5 job and started travelling the world getting paid for it and having the most amazing time, while you sit there in your 9– 5 job, panicking, wondering why you aren’t doing the same. The fitness blogger that spends all their waking hours in the gym looks amazing and flawless, while you are struggling to get to the gym once or twice a week and starting to feeling bad about yourself. The models who spend their time ensuring they look perfect, may be even photoshopping their posts before they go up and you think why can’t you look like that. Even if it isn’t bloggers you compare yourself to your friends. The ones who moved away living it up half way across the world. The ones that are always out for brunch, concerts, holidays while you may live a more sedentary life but start feeling like you should be doing what they are doing.
What you don’t see it what goes on behind the scenes. You don’t see the blogger’s frustrations, their lows. They work very hard to get where they are and with that also comes sacrifices. The one who travels. You don’t see how tired they are, going from train to train, taking the next flight, getting sick with food poisoning due to the change in diets and constantly moving. The struggle of the fitness guru who has to get to the gym all the time even when they are exhausted and post about their bodies, constantly scrutinising themselves. The friend who looks like they are having the best time ever who is actually struggling with being home sick or working 80% of the time but you only see them having a ball. Of course I am not saying this is the case for everyone and there are plenty that may be genuinely happy but what you see is not always real and that’s important to remember.
Ask yourself are you the victim of constant comparison? Do you often think someone else is living a better life than you based on their Social Media? Do you feel jealous, upset or anxious when you see these things?
Stop comparing. Stop thinking your life isn’t great based on someone else’s. You need to evaluate what makes you happy in life and decide what you want, not where you think you should be from what you see elsewhere.
Have you noticed or felt these type of pressures? What can you do to change things?
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