Don’t het 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.
