How social media f*cked me up

I think I first got social media when I was in grade 6. It was completely harmless though. I remember posting pictures on Instagram of my favourite memes and art projects I had to do for class. Facebook was a place where my friend would post a funny picture on my page, but now its a place where I have to look professional in fear that a future employer will look at it and wonder what I did throughout my adolescent years. Once I entered into high school, I felt that I cared more about what I posted because I wanted people to think a certain way about me. For someone who didn’t know you personally, your social media account is where they would go in order to develop an opinion about you without ever speaking two words to you. As you know, for anyone entering high school, there is always this type of competition with who has the most popular page, who can get the most likes and who has the most followers. In a way you are trying to prove yourself on social media, proving that you are not some loser and that your page is worth looking at.

But I believe that now, I am coming down from that high horse and realizing that social media isn't everything. And in order to keep us sane, we do need to log off every once in a while. One of the online stressors that I have always felt is the fear of missing out, and honestly I still feel it today. There is always so much going on in the world, and social media is always where I find out whats going on. So I kinda feel left out when people are talking about something that they read on Twitter, or Instagram and you aren’t able to connect because you hadn’t checked those sites that day. This causes me to constantly go online to see every new post, tweet or snapchat. Now, I must admit I have been the one to say “omg how did you not hear about that”, to my friends whenever they haven’t seen something that is trending, so I just don’t want to be on the other side of that line. Social media is a place where people always want to be relatable to each other, and because of that I have been caught up in the highlight reel, posting some of the most amazing moments of my life because I want to seem as cool as the people I see on my page with their tan skin, perfect bodies and amazing adventures. It is also the small details on social media that make me go crazy, something that has probably affected my mental health and self-esteem as I have used these sites over the years. If one of my pics doesn’t get the same amount of likes as one did, I wonder if that pic was good enough. Or if someone unfollows me, I wonder what I ever did to that persons life that they went to my page and clicked the “unfollow” button. It’s the little things that people start to notice, that add up in the long run.

If I was to write a letter to my younger self about the use of social media, I would literally say just relax, social media is not the only source of happiness. Know your limits and when you need to take a break from the online world. Read a book for once. Make sure you keep up your social skills and not only know how to talk to people through a picture that only lasts 10 seconds on snapchat. I believe that you do have a lot of potential, so harness that and use social media as a way to gather information and use it in real-world situations. If you are going to follow someone on a site, make sure all they have to say is positive or wise things, you don’t need all that negativity on your timeline. You must also be a good role-model on social media, which I think is something that you have been doing. With social media, everything is able to travel fast, so think about whatever you’re posting and wonder how this will portray you in the next 5 years. Also remember that you have made it this far using social media so I’m sure you will be able to stick around long enough to see the death of all social media platforms.