Does Social Media Cause Depression?
2018 is upon us. And in this day in time a major aspect of our daily lives consist of social media!
Whether you're an addict to
- Snapchat
1. F.O.M.O.
I have this problem soooo bad! Fear of missing out!! When watching stories on snapchat of my friends having fun at an event I couldn't or didn't attend, I instantly get jealous and feel as whatever I'm doing in that moment isn't as great.
But we should not live life in a fear or subconsciously worrying about what others are doing all the time. Because if we are always thinking that other people are living better than us we will not be able to freely experience the great things in our own life which can lead to depression.
2. Judging others
Everyone is guilty of forwarding a snapchat story or screenshotting someone else's post and sending to a friend to gossip about. Whether we are judging people on social medias for their clothes, hair, actions, etc. it's not good for our spirits to judge and hate on others.
Also, social media can be a way of misjudging people. How many times has someone told you about a guy you should meet and you pull him up on your phone and say...well he's not my type.
You don't even know him!!! Same goes for girls too. Just because another girl doesn't have all that many likes on her pictures doesn't mean she couldn't be a potential best friend! Don't use someone's profile to instantly judge who they are.
3. Missing Out on the Fun
Do things that are so fun you forget about your phone! The best moments in life don't make it on social media.
Some people are constantly glued to their phones because they think they HAVE to talk to their people all the time and update their snapchat/insta/FB of everything they do!
If you can't spontaneously get so involved in a good time, then you are not going to be as happy when it's all said and done. I'm not saying don't keep in touch when someone needs you or to not take any cute pictures when you go somewhere. Just be able to put it down for a short time to get the full experience.
Just think about this:
At concerts how many people are videoing majority of the whole show without even singing, dancing, connecting with others??
We all know that mom on vacation that wants a photo to post of their kids in front of every sign and the kids are miserable.
Or even those girls that are taking 30 minutes to get a good Instagram photo but they aren't even enjoying the events!
4. Mistaking Everything Online as a Reality
Ok! You need to understand this! Everyone's social medias are just glimpses of the highlights in their lives! It's not the reality.
Behind that photo someone posts can be so much more than you even know about. No one has a perfect life like they post it to be. Some even use filters and tell a bunch of mushy fake stuff in captions to make themselves look perfect.
Have you ever been to an event and you saw a post about it later? Your friend, or whoever, posts all these cute pictures that they precisely edited. The caption is about how much fun ya'll had.
But you think to yourself... this party wasn't all that fun, that was the 12th picture we took in order to get a decent one, she was fighting with her boyfriend the whole time, etc, etc, etc!!!!
This shows that most of everything posted online is not the reality. So DON'T compare your life to all the fake stuff because you will surely feel down about yourself.
I even have a "JUST GOALS" board on my Pinterest and while it may be inspirational, I have to remind myself that life will not be that perfect like it looks on Pinterest.
These are just a few points that I thought of and how sometimes even I can get depressed from being online too much! So if you are having any of these problems, stay off social media for a while and enjoy the real true beauty and happiness of your life!!!
Simply throw your phone into a drawer on silent. Make a list of all the things that you've been meaning to get done for so long and knock it out! Or make a list of things you want to do that make you happy and will help you to detox from the social stress a while!! (examples: hiking, painting, cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc.)
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