Facebook is
closing in on 1.5 billion users. That is an insane amount. Technology is taking
over our everyday lives. There is almost no one in the United States that can
go more than a day without electronics. With all of these new tablets, phones,
computers, and whatever else there is, it’s no wonder social media is stealing
time out of our day. I think social media makes us sad and a lot of times
lonely and unimportant.
There are
so many different sites and with every site comes hundreds of thousands of
users. With unlimited amount of posting ability, each user could post hundreds
of times every day. That’s pretty outrageous. So many updates to read and
pictures to look at. The real statistic is the average user creates 90 pieces
of content each month, or about 1.5 per day. And each one of these average
users sees up to 30 billion pieces of content a month.
Not to
scare you or anything, but social media does have a huge part in our lives,
whether it be to keep in touch with relatives and friends or to find people
like you, a whole lot of people partake in social media. When you get on to
Facebook, what do you see? You see happy things. You see new music, puppies,
friends and families awesome vacation photos, and all of the users who give
advice, even though they are not qualified to. My point is how can you see all
of this and feel sad? Our minds have a habit of making everyone else's
happiness seem, well, happier. When you're feeling down, and you hop on social
media, everything seems so much better than your situation, even when it’s not.
When you're really happy and joyful and hop on social media, you see so many
things that make other's lives seem great; you begin to question whether or not
your day really was good.
You're
always worrying about your profile. No matter what app or website it is, you
always are changing your profile to what you think is cool or what others would
like. This is called “presentation anxiety.” Every time you post, you are
trying to outdo your fellow users and make them believe that you're the
coolest, or the prettiest, or the most funny.
All of
these elements lead us to being sad, social media makes us sad. Seeing all of
the highlights of people’s lives make you believe that your life is not good,
because you can't or aren't doing those things every day. When in reality, it's
different people and it's not the same person posting something that makes you
jealous all the time, it's your hundreds or thousands of friends. It's not just
a few friends, they really only might post something that is worthy of envy
every few months. I don't use social media a whole lot, and I know I'm happier
this way. I used to get on multiple times a day, and can truly say, it's better
when it's not stealing time from you, when it's not stealing happiness and
confidence from you. You should try it.
Hey, this is actually somewhat true. On Wednesday, I accidentally left my phone in the weight room, and that night I was lost. I didn't know what time it was, I didn't know what Kylie Jenner was cooking for dinner, I was lost. This post is the biggest wake up call, and I agree with almost everything you said, except when you said, "Every time you post, you are trying to outdo your fellow users and make them believe that you're the coolest, or the prettiest, or the most funny," because I am, in fact, the prettiest of my friends.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, this post is the realist thing I've read in a while. I agree with you when you say social media steals happiness and confidence.
I completely agree with you. I wouldn’t say that I am a full blown social media user, but I would be lying if I said that I never get on social media. I can go a day or two without my phone, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter, and I am pretty proud of that. But that is kind of sad that I am proud of that. I never really “post” on social media, I usually just scroll through the news feeds and see what everyone is up to. But you’re right, social media can make us envious. I follow a lot of makeup accounts, or fitness accounts and it just makes so unhappy because I know that I can’t do my makeup as well as these makeup pro’s or I don’t have that perfect body like the fitness fanatics. Thank you for writing this, I really enjoyed it, Michael.
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