Facebook is the Loneliest Number

Unless you live under a rock, you have a Facebook account. The creation of Facebook and other social media platform are seen as one of the most incredible achievements for today’s youth and older. Social media platforms give you the opportunity to connect with individuals from all across the world, keep in touch with friends from the past, and share all the amazing achievements you have received.

Now let’s look at that last pro of social media, “share all the amazing achievements you have received”. At first look you just think about how incredible technology has grown that you are able to share the amazing things going on in your life with your friends, family and whoever else can view your profile. Unfortunately, this is not all it’s cracked up to be.

If you really examine all social media platforms you can see the same pattern occur. PEOPLE SHARE THE POSITIVE. When just looking at Facebook, you can be able to see this that much clearer than the other platforms.

Facebook is a tool people have been using to show only the good things that are going on in their lives. You can see people who have over 900 “friends”, posts of them looking “flawless” and statuses about how great things in their life is going. According to Forbes, these filtered profiles are causing individuals across the world to become more and more depressed (Chowdhry, 2016). Reasoning behind this, is the fact that individuals will subconsciously compare themselves to their “friends” on Facebook, and only see how amazing that person’s life is.

No one ever posts their downfalls or unflattering photos onto their profiles. People want to be viewed a certain way, and Facebook allows us to modify the way others perceive us.

Next time you are on Facebook or any other social media platform, remember this is not reality. If that doesn’t work, try taking a break from social media. Go one day without social media, and see how much happier your life gets.

Now I’m not suggesting going the rest of your life without social media. In today’s world it is impossible to go throughout one’s life without having at least one social media platform, unless you live in a cabin, deep in the woods, with no Wi-Fi. But, if you just take a day every now and then to turn off social media from you life, it could help improve your happiness, and you might not feel as lonely.