Most of us cannot imagine a world without social media. It plays a vital role especially in education when we're working to progress our lives. We also find out about the latest news around the globe, as well as stay connected with friends. It has offered people opportunities to make careers and promote themselves. Social media here to stay.
However, when did we become obsessed with the number of times people double tap our Instagram photos? When did we get to the point where we cry over Facebook likes and the number of times we've been shared.
When did we start allowing our human connections to be identified by social media?
Every now and then, I think it is beneficial if we go through our social media accounts and cleanse. I don't need to be following the girl who I haven't talked to since sophomore year of high school. I don't need to be following my ex to check up on them. I certainly do not need to be following the people who haven't reach out to me.
In high school, I wanted to be well-liked and I thought that could be validated by the number of followers or likes I get on a post. I continued this mentality when I got to college and joined a sorority. I thought I needed to get 200+ likes just to be a human being.
It got to the point I had enough. I was sick of social media because when I sat back and really thought about it I worried about not getting anyone to comment on my appearance or like my post. It was so unhealthy I began acting a certain way just to get more likes.
I also realized people were viewing my social media accounts as our main point of communication. I wasn't getting texts or calls from people I believed were in my corner. I was also getting anxious about people viewing my posts and making assumptions about how I was living my life. Knowing that certain people were following me yet not directly talking made me feel anxious. I hated the feeling of eyes watching me.
So I conducted an experiment.
I started by blocking people, so I had no temptation to look at their profiles and they couldn't do the same. However, that was getting too time-consuming, so I unfollowed everyone who triggered my anxiety and deleted the apps for a week.
And honestly, I haven't felt happier. Yes, it's nice seeing what people are up to, but I often will text someone "congrats" or a basic follow up to the post. I want to get to know that person, not just by posts essentially bragging about themselves, but also that they have someone in their corner. I crave a genuine connection with people rather than an artificial.
I had some people get offended I blocked them, but I don't regret it. These people weren't healthy for my psyche, so I took action. Sometimes your biggest advocate is yourself and realizing when a situation isn't okay and taking action is one of the biggest actions of self-care.
I am choosing to no longer allow social media to control how I feel, or frankly give other people the power to not make an effort in our friendship.
Deleting my social media accounts made me realize that I am putting 100% of my effort into a friendship, but also receiving less than half in most of my friendships. It gets exhausting being the person to reach out.
They would have to anyways if my social media accounts got deleted, right?
