Unpopular Opinion: Social Media Is Only Toxic if You Let It Be.

Let me explain.

I inserted my Instagram profile right now because it’s the most suitable image I can find.

There is so much talk about social media and how “toxic” it is because of people posting their lavish lifestyles, flexing how rich they are, or how perfect they look with their perfect lips, perfect eyes, etc. As you know the list goes on and on. People love to crap on the rich for making everyone else feel bad because it’s totally everyone’s job to make you feel good about yourself.

Unpopular opinion: I actually think it’s only toxic if you let it be. It is only toxic if you sit there and compare yourself, degrade yourself, and talk poorly about yourself while sitting in front of your phone and comparing every inch of your life with Instagram models.

Just like everything in our lives, we have the ability to choose what we want and what to take out of a situation, and we have the power to make decisions. So today I am here to tell you social media is actually not toxic and can be a great business tool. At least for me, that is how I perceive it.

But I know that we can’t blame ourselves 100% as we were made to believe somehow that all of these standards that you see on Instagram are somehow comparable to the reality of our lives. That is why it is important to take out the time to understand what you are consuming, how much you are consuming, and why you are consuming the content you are.

So you're probably wondering now, Rachel, how do I make it so I don’t do all the self-degrading things you just listed? Well lucky for you, I have been through this cycle and have successfully broken it. Instagram is now purely a creative business platform to me.

Rule #1:

Don’t talk shit about yourself. It amazes me how much crap we talk to ourselves. For once, be confident. Be confident that this is the journey that you are supposed to take in order to be the best version of yourself. Write down things that you want to accomplish, and go after them. Create small goals every day to help achieve self-confidence, and these should be “non-negotiable” things to do in your everyday life. It will help boost your ability to believe in yourself so that you can be truly confident to the point where you are not comparing yourself.

Rule #2:

Spend limited time on any platform that makes you feel like crap. You need put a limit on how much media you consume on a daily basis. There are apps that help with this like flora, which is easy to use and has a gamified incentive for not exceeding your screentime limit.

Rule #3:

Understand the context put behind each photo. If you’re like me who loves to compare body types with gorgeous people you see on the internet, it is unhealthy, makes you feel horrible about the way you look, and does nothing positive for you.

I came up with a solution: I thought about the context behind each photo. First off, their job is to be a model, not to make me feel better about myself or encourage me to take care of myself. Their job is to post gorgeous advertisements that have gone through multiple editing tools, professional photographers that know angles well, and a full glam team.

Or if it is another person posting their “amazing” lifestyle of traveling all over the globe while I am slaving over here on my university homework assignments, I think about all the possibilities that person is going through and how it very may well not be an all-stress-free trip. I realized that so many people these days have an obsession with making it look like they have fun somewhere when in reality they are having a miserable time. So yes, social media can very much be fake and that is a key point to think about. Once I stopped pitying myself, I realized that I am the one who can go to the gym and eat healthily. I am the one who can be happy for them and admire their hard work/ discipline that took to look like that.

We all come from different privileges, backgrounds, eating habits from our parents, etc. Nobody, absolutely nobody is the same as the person we sit next to in our meetings, classes, and the restaurant we go to. The best thing that I can do for myself is fuel my body with the right nutrients and keep my health in check.

I hope my three rules help and make you feel a little more in control in the digital world. Let me know your thoughts!