Is social media the main reason for our mental health issues?
I sat down to write (and actually did write) an article about photography, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was doing it to check a box that I wrote a blog for my website. So I thought about how annoying it was that I was literally doing something I didn’t really want to do so that I could boost my business about writing something I didn’t really care about right now. There are times that I have an exciting photography informational post, but sometimes I just want to create to CREATE. Not for any other purpose.
Then I sat down and scrolled on Instagram as most of us do and I got sucked in going through the roller coaster of emotions watching reels. I was laughing at one video, then crying on the next and just had the realization that it is probably not normal and not human to switch emotions so fast. We are meant to sit and be and process and here I am switching moods every 5 seconds, laughter to jealousy to inspiration to anger. On repeat. And then we all blame everything but the phones. We refuse to believe that our cell phones have anything to do with our mental health crisis.
What we (or at least I) forget while, on Instagram or social media is that:
What you are seeing is a SNAPSHOT of someone’s entire life. Maybe they are on a high right now and cruising through this season of their life, but that is not going to be the case for their entire life.
What you are seeing is LIKELY not the whole reality. Maybe you saw them and their significant other laughing and dancing with their kids, but you didn’t see the poop that their kids had smeared on the wall minutes beforehand and the fact that their husband only gets to be home a couple times a year due to their job. They have struggles even if they don’t show them on social media, because WE ALL DO.
We are not meant to constantly be trying to change who we are. YOU DO NOT NEED ANOTHER PRODUCT to make your life better. Yes, I am speaking to myself here. Every video is trying to sell you on something or convince you of something and it can be so taxing.
Stop attaching your worth to the response you get on your posts. Here is the reality, not everyone is going to like what you post, but who cares?! (Again talking to myself) keep going and doing what you love for YOU, not for other people.
The reality is that real life connection will always outweigh social media and bring us back to authenticity. We are meant for more if we can just slow down where we are. So here I am, attempting to practice what I preach. We need each other in real life.
