Is Social Media Affecting Your Self-Esteem?

Is Social Media Affecting Your Self-Esteem?

One moment you are all confident about yourself and smiling with content. The other moment you open your social media accounts and realise all your friends are either settling down with their picture-perfect partners or travelling around the world on their five-star vacations. And here you are, frowning in the corner of your house thinking about all your achievements and the minimal value they have. A sulking feeling takes over your body where you feel as if you have lost control over your life. If this feeling sounds familiar to you, do not worry, you aren’t alone. Social Media has been affecting the self-esteem of people lately. There are growing numbers of patients complaining that social media has added to their state of depression and anxiety. With a large number of Americans lamenting about loneliness, it is time we begin to realise the impact of our social media usage on our minds and take charge of our mental health.

The primary purpose of social media was to connect our friends or family irrespective of the distances in between. But the current drifts in social media access, suggest that we are using it to keep a tab of our peers and celebrity lives. We are so engrossed in their stories that we start comparing our selves to them. Everything that we do or achieve is then compared to whether it is of a standard of being posted on our social media accounts.

These are the kinds of stories that significantly affect our mental health:

• Travel & food

Exotic locations and drool-worthy pictures contribute most to the fear of missing out. It rings the feeling that people around us are having way more fun in their lives as compared to us.

• Perfect couple goal pictures

Pictures of marriage proposals, weddings or kids can bring upon you the feeling of incompleteness. You might assume that everyone around you is settling down while you are still struggling to figure out your life.

• Current Trends

A kind of body type or a new fashion trend can diverge you from the path of confidence. You might begin to believe that you are not worth the standards of the modern world and therefore, not a correct fit.

All of the above factors collate to damage your self-esteem, shaking your confidence. If these are taken into consideration seriously, one may develop an inferiority complex that can negatively affect your mental health.

These are how social media can affect your mental strength.

• You judge yourself for not having particular looks or style or not being able to achieve anything worth social media. You could even develop a feeling of jealousy.
• Self- criticism aggravates depression and anxiety where you always feel deprived of happiness.
• If the feeling of depression continues over a prolonged period, it can also put you in a state of loneliness.
• Does not let you feel happy about your achievements, and you begin belittling all your success stories.
• Addiction to social media could make you anti-social where you would prefer to stay away from people considering your ineptitude complex.

These are the ways that can help from becoming a victim to social media.

• Real vs reel
• Self-analysis should be avoided after social media scrolling
• Set goals without the pressure of people or trends (you could have the goal of starting a business or making a new friend)
• Each one is different (its okay if you take time to achieve what everyone has)
• Do not let yourself feel lonely
• Count your blessings and jot down your life milestones
• Do not begin your day with social feeds
• A break from your phones

We all need to remember that whatever we say on our social media feeds is the highlight of people’s lives. In reality, there is a lot more happening to them behind those pictures. Just like we dont see all the failed attempts to goal in a soccer match highlight, we do not entirely understand about a person through their social media accounts. Instead of feeling

Five-star vacations

Highlights

Jealousy

Addictive

Too much information

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