Alice in the Wonderland of Social Media
Social Media is like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. You’re curious on what it holds inside, but once you look too deep you fall deep inside with no way to get out. You are then forced to go inside the dark world of social media and experience everything up close. You try different things on the table; some work out and others don’t. You experiment a little before you get the hang of it and open the door into a story you never thought possible. You get caught up in the problems and stories and people inside this world that you forget you have things to do outside of it.
That’s what social media does. It sucks you in, and distracts you from everything around. Parents and teachers warn you that you have to be careful about social media, but they tell you only the extreme cases that may happen. The don’t tell you that it will suck all your time away, make you self-conscious about every little thing and turn you into a CIA agent.
Girls probably have this social media thing worse. Girls are constantly cat called on the streets and this situation only gets worse online. Pictures that are posted stay there forever, for everyone to see and everyone to like/comment or not like/comment, it’s unclear which one is worse.
My last few years of high school social media was how everything happened. If some guy was tagged in your Instagram picture by his buddy, and the next day the whole school “knows” there’s something going on. Group chats are made outside of group chats to exclude a certain someone. Snapchat best friends and streaks were what told people whose “wheeling” who and who is your best friend.
Social media is now the fire of high school life. If you have it you get tortured and if you don’t you get called out, who knows which one’s worse. However, through the torture and over thinking I did learn some steps to possibly help with the wounds. My first self-care tip is to occupy your time. Get out. Go do something with friends, family or just by yourself. Do something where you can’t have your phone with you. Sure you may get anxiety at first of your disconnection, but if you’re having fun you probably won’t think about it that much. My second self-care tip would be to spend time on social media that doesn’t make you hate yourself. Pinterest and YouTube usually take up my time just as much, but at the end of the scrolling I don’t feel the need to have to do 5000 squats or spend $2000 on a vacation or photoshoot. My third self-care tip would probably be try to stay off your phone in times you don’t need it. Like on the toilet for example, everyone does it, but do you really need to do it and compare yourself to others at the same time?
There are small self-care tips for social media, however there is no way to protect yourself from the guilt it makes you feel. All you can do is be yourself and learn to be confident in who you are. Sure your friend may be on a vacation, but you don’t know that she’s actually enjoying her time there. You need to be confident in yourself and your life enough that you stop comparing yourself to others. Or stop comparing yourself to others as much, because lets be real everyone wants to be on vacation.
Social media is a deep and dark hole, but if you’re like Alice you will not only find your way out but learn how to make every wrong situation right.
