Does social media affect our mental health?

Bartosz Baratowicz wonders if social media may affect the way we function…

All of us have social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook and/or Snapchat. For most people it’s a way to promote and/or find a certain validation from society through their social media account. However, have we actually thought how that strive for appreciation affects our mental health?

Firstly, let’s break down how exactly that whole machine works. We post pictures that supposedly portray our lifestyle and ourselves. Obviously, we want this to look impressive, but we may have to pay a price for that with our mental health.

Through platforms like Instagram people are looking to be appreciated and validated. They will literally post anything just to bring the attention to them. And when they start to lose it, they will do anything to maintain the facade. That type of behaviour has detrimental effects on our mental health, taking away our confidence and putting the source of that into social media.

Maintaining self-growth and emotional mastering will allow you to be much more of a mature person rather than constantly asking for confirmation through social media approval; we don’t need to be validated by social media. There are more beneficial ways of accomplishing the same goal.

There is a very thin line between being proud of our accomplishments and seeking validaton for it, but we can’t lose ourselves in the latter and set this as a base of our personality and confidence. Behaviours like that can be seen everywhere around us. People start to live for the likes instead of themselves; they tend to mask their true faces behind the self-made filters to reject reality.

When we submit into such process subconsciously our confidence, self-awareness, personality and most important what we are thinking about ourselves are thrown right into that very social media.

It goes up like a ladder, in the beginning we are getting validated because of likes and all of the emotions people are giving us like for example compassion and all sort of supportive emotions, henceforth, a lot of people tend to play ‘victim’ so society will cope with their thirst of support. Those types of behaviours just hide toxic personality.

Next comes the feeling of being appreciated. We start to feel how great we are because of all the feedback. At one moment people would say and do anything just so they can bring attention to them with validation and appreciation alongside of it.

When we are not getting any more supportive emotions we can develop serious issues like depression or anxiety disorders. This lack of appreciation that we used to have is igniting the fire of anger inside us that leads into self-destruction. When we are losing something it creates a hole that needs to be filled up otherwise we will constantly feel empty without any personality.

The point is to be free of the constant need of validation. Focusing on yourself is much more beneficial and healthier for us. Don’t confuse it with using social media as a platform of promotion or showcasing how talented you are.

Social media is an amazing tool to show the best sides of you and also to inspire many people like for example a photography or any other type of art. The point is to not let them affect you and build your character. Do it by yourself for yourself, not for fake likes and attention! Many people have been through the process of ‘being validated’ on social media. To get over that and grow out of it, we must focus on ourselves and improve our life.

There’s nothing wrong in having active social account and showing how impressive our life is. Social media should just be tool that we are controlling. Not the other way around.

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