Where the majority of online surfers will immediately go once online, is their social media account. They will continue to log in and out of their various accounts for an average of eight hours a day. Once they do so, some will participate, while others will just remain on the sidelines, stalk and browse.
Doing so can either damage your self-esteem or elevate your confidence, depending on what appears on your screen at that moment.
There’s more time spent on social media, then most will spend socializing face-to-face with others.
So if you’re an avid social media user, it then becomes important to ask yourself, is spending all this time on it, making you feel better about yourself, or is it affecting your well-being.
What social media has now become, is a form of addiction which can potentially be bad for you.
In the past, you wouldn’t constantly be on social media, you wouldn’t have the time for it, when living your busy life. It was once reserved for those with a sedentary lifestyle.
Types Of Social Media Users
If you use social media on a passive basis, by not posting and just browsing, doing so can make you feel worse about yourself.
If you’re the type to just browse and see what your friends are up to, or you just watch videos while scrolling down your timeline, it’s more likely to damage your happiness.
Studies show what this type of passive behaviour does, is it leads to making social comparisons. Your flaccid life compared to others.
Once you do so, what you’ll immediately look at, are all the best qualities of those influencers, while realizing how disappointing your life is.
Is That Really You
This happens once you see the accomplishments of your high-school friends decades later, and see how they’ve flourished, or how great they still look, how successful they’ve become.
You then begin to question if you’ve done enough with your life. Maybe you shouldn’t of married your high school sweetheart, or decided to live in that small dead end town.
Once you see the lavish lifestyles they lead, their latest vacation photos, the scrumptious meals that they enjoy, or the fancy house they live in, you begin to wonder where you failed.
You realize you’re on the outside looking in when browsing on social media, and they’re the ones in it.
Making Social Comparisons
It’s just human nature to compare yourself to others, to see where you’re at, in all facets of life. This includes all your past and present friends, your family and coworkers, as a measurement.
Realize on social media, especially on Facebook and Instagram, what everyone does is presents the best versions of themselves, and not any of their flaws.
What happens however, is you instinctively compare their greatest accomplishments, to your worst personal qualities, and decide you’re not good enough.
Why Am I Such A Failure
Almost everyone has this tendency to compare themselves with others when they’re vulnerable, frustrated, or in a bad mood.
Once you see the beautiful beach your friend went to, or when your former classmate has that dream career, spouse or car, you realize how bad you’re struggling to make ends meet.
The little green envy monster then rears its head, and can make you feel inferior, resentful, and hostile, forcing you to question the decisions you’ve made in life, thinking you’re unlucky or cursed.
These emotions, can then harm all of your real life social relationships.
Yet, what you do is support your social media friends, wish them a Happy Birthday, while feeling miserable doing so.
It’s Not Who You Know… It’s You, You Know
But don’t worry sad surfer, social media can actually help you feel better. What needs to be realized, is how, when and why it makes you feel miserable.
What’s known for certain is if you’re active on social media, doing so can help you feel more socially connected to the world.
If you happen to post regularly, while disclosing personal details and images of yourself, share funny memes, often use messenger to chat with others, you may feel happier social media is in your life.
Don’t Scurry Be Happy
It turns out broadcasting yourself by posting frequently, along with targeted one-on-one exchanges, can do is increase your happiness which boosts your well being.
What this type of social media usage does, is helps you build weak social connections into stronger ones, or where they would otherwise have ended.
What participation does is enhances the bonds you already have, with your existing inner core of friends. You may even feel more connected to a larger community.
As a result, you’re likely to feel less lonely, while experiencing enhanced connection with friends or those you don’t know.
To Social Media Or Not
If you’re not sure how you can use social media to your advantage, then you may be better off to just limit your usage, or even quit social media altogether.
What’s known is the average social media surfer, feels worse while on the platform, than if they were browsing the internet elsewhere. But for some, social media is the Internet,
What some will recommend is to just take a break away from social media for say a week, which can boost your self-esteem. What’s thought once doing so, is it can improve your morale.
If you’re wondering if social media is actually making you miserable, then take some time off to find out.
Ask yourself if you feel better about yourself and if it does, then take some more time off.