Don’t get me wrong, in some ways this is awesome because there is no
denying that social media has connected us all in ways we couldn’t have
imagined. This connection allows us all to become more aware of valuable
information, and it also allows us to share it. Some of this is
information that we wouldn’t have easy access to if it weren’t for these
social media platforms. The rapid growth of social media is likely the
leading contributor to why alternative media platforms -such as our
site -have become as widespread as they are today.
Within this article however, I would like to focus on the other side to
social media -in particular some of the habits, addictions and ego
driven things many of us seem to do quite regularly. Here is a list of 7
things that I believe we all need to stop doing on social media:
1. Stalk The Life Of A Former Partner
We’ve all done it, some of us openly flat out love to do it, but that
doesn’t necessarily make it healthy. Using social media to regularly
check in and follow the life of a former partner is a surefire way to
keep unnecessary attachments strong and also sets you up for a lot of
drama filled mental comparison. It’s one thing to use social media to
remain friends with an ex, but it’s another thing to use it as a tool to
keep track of them. Remember that you broke up for a reason, you never
did own them and certainly do not now and monitoring their every move
will only preoccupy you with thoughts in the opposite direction of truly
moving on.
2. Create An Ideal You
One thing that social media profiles offer us that real life interaction
cannot, is the opportunity to master the creation of a false persona.
We hand select which pictures we post, formulate the perfectly witty
status update and choose to follow and like the groups and posts that we
feel best represent who we want to be perceived as. The end result, an
ideal you that in reality I’m sure very few of us can actually live up
to. Rather than creating a false self that is bound to crumble if ever
faced in person, why not use social media as the perfect platform to
truly be yourself and connect with likeminded individuals?
3. Poke Fun Of Or Respond To Something Angrily
Being on the other end of a bigger social media page I regularly get to
see all of the colours of social media commenting. No matter how
researched, factually supported, or simple a post you put up may be, you
will always have 1 to 2 “smart ass” remarks for every 50 made in
support. It’s not to say that everyone needs to agree with everything
that is posted or shared, it’s just that there is a definitive
difference between constructive criticism that presents an opposing view
to be considered and a smart ass remark fuelled by spite, anger or
hatred. Next time you find yourself disagreeing with something, opt to
take the more sensible approach, which ultimately is way more likely to
be taken seriously.
4. Compare Yourself To Others
With the lives of so many people at our fingertips it’s easy to find
ourselves regularly comparing ourselves to countless friends, family and
acquaintances even as we simply scroll our news feed. Rather than
compare ourselves to the social media lives of others, instead choose to
either genuinely celebrate or pay no attention to what they share.
There is always going to be someone publicly sharing something (a
relationship, job promotion, a killer beach body) that your mind will
want to be jealous of, whether or not you let it, is up to you.
5. Make It Your Primary Form Of Socialization
As cool and connective as social media may be it never has and never
will trump in-person socialization. Just as you make sure to make time
to regularly check your news feed, make sure to make even more time to
connect with people in person.
6. Post Things Solely To Get Attention/ Gain Approval
Getting a like, comment, share, retweet, pin or any of the other fancy
signs of approval can always be a pleasant experience, especially when
it comes in response to a very genuine post. The issue I’d like to bring
our attention to is when we specifically choose to post things with the
sole purpose of hoping to get attention or to gain approval. I’m not
trying to be the post police here, since I’m sure several posts
scattered across my own social media account could come across in this
way. The intention is to get us all to reflect on our true motivation
behind things, and rather than always look externally for something to
make us feel better, to instead look internally and hopefully learn to
love ourselves for who we are regardless of whether or not anyone else
agrees.
What We All Can Use Social Media For Instead
A lot of these may seem very common sensical but here are some of the more healthy ways that we can use social media:
- To keep in touch with friends and relatives
- To connect with like-minded people all over the world
- To support one another
- To follow and share posts from pages that inspire you
- To help spread awareness of non-mainstream news
- To bring us all together more easily to create and inspire change
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