Dear Tom
Dear Tom,
Its going to start with a website called Facebook. You will start by using it as a hub to share your day and post photos. Eventually, the messenger feature on it will make MSN irrelevant and much of your time on your computer will revolve around this one site. This will be the start of social media, and it will consume 90% of your internet usage.
In the early days, social media will not affect your day to day life. However, it will eventually begin to do more harm than good. While you may not realize it at first, the ways that you interact with social media can cause harm to your mental health. It is important not to get caught up in how people display their lives over Facebook or Instagram. People will, naturally, only display the best parts of their lives online, and when this is the only part that you see, it will appear that their lives are constantly that amazing. This is not usually the case, and you have to remember that everyone has flaws and challenges in their lives just like you do.
There may be times when seeing how much fun other people are having will put you down. The idea of FOMO will negatively affect you more than you think, but even when you feel like the world has forgotten to invite you — but people do care and you must not get caught up in the online world. You will learn to realize that the close friends you have in real life are much more important than boosting the number of ‘friends’ you have on Facebook, or ‘followers’ you have on Instagram.
So if social media is harming your mental health, you should probably just try to cut it out altogether right? Well, not necessarily. Social media is a great tool for keeping in touch with your friends and family, as well as sharing and storing memories. Instagram, for example, does not just have to be an outlet for your friends to post selfies of themselves. It can be a place for you and the people you follow to capture amazing moments with friends. Eventually, you may even move away from your home town of Victoria and social media can help you stay connected with your friends.
Today, I can tell you that social media has evolved exponentially since its inception. Youtube, Instagram, and Facebook have become staples of your day — but you have learned how to use them for leisure and connections. Advertisements are everywhere, Facebook is being usurped by Instagram, and Youtube has become a place to learn new things and waste the day away. The phase of social media affecting your mental health has ended, and through those struggles you have learned more about yourself and how you view your friendships. You have embraced social media for what it is without being bogged down by it and, most importantly, by not taking it too seriously.
