I love social media, along with every other millennial in America. But honestly, a lot of the time we are not as happy in real life as we portray ourselves on social media. Why is that? I don’t think it is because we aren’t happy in real life, but I do think it is because we pretend to be extra happy on social media. So many people these days are obsessed with making others believe that they are content with their lives, without actually feeling true satisfaction. Social media could be doing more harm to us than good.
1) It can ruin your self image.
How many of us stalk Instagram models then feel like total crap? Basically, every girl who owns an Instagram. And how many of us forget that those models’ pictures have probably been touched up, multiple times? We spend so much time going through models’ feeds and putting ourselves down and criticizing ourselves. These are professionally taken pictures we are looking at. We get so upset with ourselves because we don’t look like these Insta-famous models but we don’t realize that they probably don’t look that flawless in real life.
2) It can ruin your relationship with your significant other.
Social media is the reason behind many fights between couples. Rather it be they became friends with their ex on Facebook or they liked a picture from someone of the opposite sex's Instagram page. These apps are seriously the worst. They have ruined relationships for some people. Maybe not the exact app itself, but it was part of some people’s breakups. I love my social media, but sometimes I think it would have saved a lot of headache to not have had it.
3) You are missing out on the NOW.
Some people get so intrigued with their phone and social media that they aren’t fully experiencing the real world that is happening around them. These days it is hard to have dinner with a group of people without at least one person being on their phone. Some people can be surrounded by friends, but they are more concerned about what everyone else on Snapchat is doing.
4) You can become too obsessed with it.
There are some people who are so obsessed with your phone; they can’t go longer than an hour without checking it. Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and everything else can become almost addicting. Some people have to see every single thing on their feed and they can’t close the app until they are caught up on everything they missed.
5) It is distracting you from other priorities.
How many of us have spent 3 hours on social media instead of doing homework or studying? Social media can distract you from so much. Almost all of us have missed a key point in a lecture because we are on social media. We need to focus more on the important things that are going on around us.
6) It is becoming a hobby.
What happened to going for a run, playing a sport or painting? Social media is becoming a hobby for some. It has gotten to the point where people spend more time on Snapchat in a day than they do being outside or interacting with others. Social media is turning into our hobby. Instead of going places and experiencing new things we are taking selfies or trying to record a Snapchat in hopes it will go viral.
