Phone addiction is real. There is a great chance that you are actually reading this article on your phone. Our phones and social media has quickly become a central part of our lives and keep us connected to people and the information we crave. Without it, keeping in touch with friends and family members would be a lot more challenging. Our reliance on our phones and social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health, with the average person checking their phone as much as 28 times a day.
While social media platforms can have their benefits, the effects of social media can hurt your self-confidence and self-esteem and make you feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long run. In this article, we will 5 common ways that social media hurts your self-confidence, magnify your insecurities, and increases your anxiety on a daily basis.
Thirst for Validation
The feeling you get when you post a photo to Instagram and receive immediate gratification through the constant wave of likes and positive comments. It’s certainly normal to feel happy when you receive likes and comments on your posts. In fact, it’s likely to temporarily boost your self-esteem. The problem is that social media allows you to “indulge” this instinct with incredible
ease. And then you get addicted. You “need” to feel this validation every so often to feel good about yourself…
The grass is always greener.
Everyone has that friend that is always posting vacation pics, cute outfits, and cool events. What may seem like the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, this picture of a great life can sometimes be deceptive. By only showing moments that capture happiness and success can perpetuate an unrealistic standard to maintain in the everyday reality of life. In reality, photos are often edited for enhancement purposes and even touched up to cover human imperfections. Also, often people who post pictures of amazing events or experiences can either be simply piggybacked from someone else success or simply slowly building debt for this person and actually causing stress and unhappiness behind the scenes. By looking at these photos and comparing them to others on social media can cause frustrations and feelings of low self-esteem. Be kind to yourself and remember that not everyone truly lives the life they portray online all the time.
Social Skills
Frequent posting and updating to social media sites may make you feel like you’ve adequately connected with others. Online communication is totally different from real, in-person conversations. The elements of tone, body language, and the physical presence of a person cannot be recreated online. True connections and bonds are made when you look someone in
the eyes. If you’re constantly browsing through photos, sending messages, or thinking about what to post next, you can never truly be engaged with what you’re doing or who you are in the presence of. Losing out on opportunities to connect with people face-to-face decreases opportunities to practice social skills necessary for success in life. Instead of hiding behind a screen, get out
there and start making more memories!
Missing out on what is truly happy
By spending your time behind a phone screen, you may miss out on what can actually make you truly happy. The good, healthy things about life, like hanging out with friends and family, learning something new in school, watching your kids in a play, or seeing something beautiful in nature, are often interrupted if we are distracted by our phones and by our social media lives. We are not fully engaged in the healthy activities of life because we want to document them to make us look interesting on social media. It’s a voyeuristic approach to life that opens you up to all kinds of negative consequences. It can befit you greatly to simply unplug once in a while to get back in touch with what you think makes you great, instead of what others think.
Social media is not all that bad and it can play a very important part in our lives. But getting on social when you have some time to kill, or, worse, need an emotional lift, is very likely a bad idea. Studies have found that taking a break from Facebook helps boost psychological well-being. If you’re feeling brave, try taking a little break, and see how it goes. And if you’re going to keep “using,” then at least try to use in moderation.