Social media is a nonstop machine of pictures, news and strategically crafted captions that make everyone lives look fabulous even if it’s a Tuesday and you’re having chicken for dinner again. It allows people to share, sometimes too much, about their lives.
This has created a false reality where it seems like everyone you know is having great adventures and live in perfectly clean well-decorated homes. Then there are the fitness people on social media who love to workout and share video and pictures of themselves doing it. Honestly, most weeks my house is a mess and my workouts are running up and down the stairs yelling at the kids to get ready as we rush out the door in the morning.
Social media also has another side to it as well that includes the rude comments of anonymous posters and political debates that are never-ending. I love a good thoughtful debate but sometimes reading through some of them can make your blood boil. People can be just downright mean when they are putting it in words instead of saying it to your face.
Recently I had someone close to me going through a hard a time. Having the constant onslaught of social media updates on their phone, tablet and pc was exhausting and was definitely not helping their mental health.
This person temporarily disconnected their social media and then sent out a text explaining they needed a break. They were exhausted and would not be responding to any messages. This person asked if I would act as their intermediary and said if you had questions or needed to tell them something they could go through me.
Two weeks of spending less time looking at other people’s feeds and just focusing on the self and my friend reconnected. This person also did a clean up of the accounts that there having a negative impact. Some of these people were close family so instead of deleting the accounts, those individuals were muted so if they felt like it, they could still see there their posts but they wouldn’t show up in the regular feed.
It’s ok to need a break every once in a while whether it’s from friends, family or social media. Your wellness should be the number one priority and you shouldn’t let someone’s perfectly crafted online life have a negative influence on your very real one.
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https://pixabay.com/en/social-social-media-communication-3064515/