Social media might be one of the reasons a lot of millennials are unhappy with their lives. Some studies link social media to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression and decreased social skills.
Everyone puts their best foot forward and, usually, the good times are projected on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. People show off the new car a friend just got their first day at a new job, a new spouse, celebrating their baby shower or even an acquittance bagging a Ph.D.
A lot of these images are making young people question their achievements. People are constantly envying other people’s lives and feeling inadequate. No one posts their failures, and it can put a lot of people under undue pressure.
The false sense of grandeur is what causes people to fall into depression, among other delicate mental illnesses. For some, it is the validity of getting liked and having many friends on social media, constantly checking how much validation they are getting online. A person posts a picture in their best clothes and is unhappy because they didn’t get more than a hundred likes.
If one does not get enough comments or enough fire emojis, they automatically start to think less of themselves. Maybe they don’t look good enough or their achievement was not spectacular enough. We start to live our lives based on the validity of others and value the opinions of others over our own.
The unhealthy rivalry and undue displeasure with oneself because of a false reality projected by family and friends can be unnerving.
Sometimes you start to feel less seeing an ex with a new lover or a friend who recently lost all the weight we were hoping to lose. Everyone looks perfect, put together and flawless online and it is almostunrealistic. Truthfully, it isn’t so most of the time.
The glamorous life of celebrities is enviable: taking constant trips to Santorini or Maldives and living it up. There are also the down times that everyone needs to know about. Deleting all the memories you made with an old lover or a scandal that everyone now knows about, or a statement made years ago that automatically disqualifies you from a major career move. Social media can be toxic.
Celebrities have had to take breaks from the internet to stay sane. Trolls have made it hell for some, from getting body shamed by random people online to being talked down for just being famous.
Self esteem can be so fragile, and it is important to guard our hearts. Knowing when to turn off the app or to ignore trolls is a skill everyone needs to learn.
When people start valuing themselves based on the number of followers or likes they have, it creates a situation that is neither healthy nor sustainable.