Digital era, social media is the main pillar. Being connected, posting ootds, stories of what you eat, drink, do is just a mere way of staying in the loop of looking cool.
We as humans are social beings, rely on each other to live, communicate our emotions to develop to grow. We need social networking to live and thrive, to be happy. Today’s world of digital life, where we live more on screens, on stories and double taps than we live physically among each other has its perks and pitfalls. Every coin comes with two sides and once tossed it only lands on one side depending on the flips in the air. Excess of anything is bad and with the growing social media era, the definition of excess is varying. The time spent by one on social may be the time spent by one while sleeping. Staying connected in this big world has become easy, getting updates from an uncle who stays down in Austrian or from a friend on a Europe trip has never been this easy.
But let’s flip the coin to highlight the cons of this growing addiction. We wake up to see the number of likes on our last night post or the number of views on our story. We wake up to the ting from a message on what’s an app but not to the birds chirping. There is a direct link between our time on screen and our mental health which leads to depression, anxiety, and worse suicidal thoughts. While scrolling through your feed and just seeing the top of a 0 size figure has led to increasing in comparison of one body with the on-screen body even though they are photoshopped. A striking rise in health issues due to starvation has seen a peak in teen girls to gain those Instagramable bodies. Insecurities Creep in with the perfect skin with filters and there we have girls and boys spending thousands on makeup to look a certain way which is nothing less than perfect rather than real.
Putting your best foot out has become the motto of this generation where everyone on Instagram is having a perfect life with a perfect house and relationship setting unrealistic goals. The idea of someone partying every weekend or carrying that Gucci bag has triggered anxiety and lowered self-esteem. Comparing is invariably a trait of humans and once you see someone on social media living a perfect life, we tend to compare our scenarios and bang without any effort we are in a storm of depression. Once you start posting stories, post to be relevant the fake life starts, and a burden to maintain that status quo begins. The pressure mounds and without realizing their anxiety attacks that creep slowly and stead. The other most common issue among this life is cyberbullying where even one single post or story can go viral with one comment and bully. The impact on a person’s mental physical health is incomparable but oh we need to look cool among others by putting someone down.
Each coin comes with two sides but once the coin stands upright there is a balance that can be achieved. Adding filters to your selfies is in no way wrong but having an obsession to have the perfect flawless skin can be harmful not just to the pocket but to your mental health. Cutting down online time, follow the pages that spread a positive story and show the real-life, unfollow pages that trigger a notion of negativity in even the slightest way, monitor your child’s account, debates on their take on social media and why they follow a particular page will give you an insight of their thoughts. Even the slightest change in behavior of your friends and family should be monitored and checked on to know if they need a eat. Social media is a blessing but it’s also a disguise. Knowing where to draw the line will only make this experience healthy and enjoyable.
