My Thoughts on Social Media

The world of social media is an interesting and addicting place. People are sharing photos from every aspect of their life. They can also communicate to other people via messages or posts. Most of all they can gain popularity in followers, likes, and comments in the expanding virtual world. Even businesses are taking advantage of this resource as part of their redefined digital marketing strategy. Ironically, even this blog uses Instagram to get more viewers for the blog posts. One can ask however, is social media really that great or does it have a dark side to itself? In my latest post for Mental Health Awareness month, I talk about the impacts social media can have on mental health as well as my experience using it. Hopefully by the end of this post, you have a better understanding of social media and mental health, and you use the multiple platforms wisely.

I first started hearing about social media when I was in middle school, and some people had Facebook. This was around the time when smartphones were becoming popular, and the Internet was starting to expand. You are probably familiar with the concept of Facebook where you have “friends” as your followers, and it was the earliest form of posts, likes, and comments. I didn’t make a Facebook account like so many of my classmates at the time, and I was so glad with this decision. You see, my middle school years were not the best as I got into many conflicts with some people. To be honest, my entire class didn’t get along with each other (and they still didn’t even when we were in high school). There was a lot of bullying, and that didn’t stop online via social media. If I had Facebook back in middle school, I don’t think I would’ve survived up to this point. In fact, during my freshman year of high school, someone made a confessions page for our school where people would write mean things about other students. Think of it like an online version of the “burn book;” it got so bad that letters were sent home to those who participated on the page, school emails were temporarily suspended, even some of the seniors had to write apology letters to colleges (surprisingly, the entire class still graduated even if they wrote something on the page). We were not the only school that did this type of act as other schools and colleges made their own Facebook confession pages. Yes, it was a pretty crazy time for social media usage. It still continued with other middle school students, but it became more modern when Snapchat and Instagram came into play. There was still cyberbullying, and that same drama among the younger students.

It wasn’t until right after I graduated high school that I finally made a Facebook account so I could keep in touch with some of my high school friends. When I got onto the social media platform, it was crazy the many things I found out. Not only did I see profiles from my high school classmates, I also saw profiles of people from my elementary school, my old teachers (I actually heard about this prior, but there was a rule that we can’t add teachers to our Facebook friends until we graduated), even my cousins, and aunts had Facebook profiles! From there, I was on Facebook nonstop creating random posts, adding everyone I knew to my Facebook friend list, and checking everyone’s feed to see what they were up to. It felt like I was addicted to a drug because that was my number one go-to-app on my phone, all day long. Even when I started college, I was still posting non-stop because I just wanted everyone to see a snapshot of my life. Again, I never had this experience in middle school, so it is pretty understanding why I was so obsessed this time. At one point, I seem to have gotten carried away sharing a bit much, according to my dad. There was this one time where my mom got a stroke and had to stay in the hospital. I posted that update on Facebook, and I got a lot of reactions, but it was at a point where I was Facebook friends with my cousin, and he found out and that is when he told his dad who told mine. That is where my dad said not to post any more updates about it. Then, there was another time where it was my first week of college, and I was attending an out-of-state school. I came up with a stupid idea where I posted my college mailing address, and told everyone to send me stuff. My dad found out from my aunty (who was also my Facebook friend), and he got mad at me for doing that, but I took down the post immediately.

Another thing I did on Facebook was that I could look at profiles of other people who I wasn’t friends with, but I knew from either high school or in my college classes. Yes, I know that it is considered creepy, but I wasn’t really close to them so I couldn’t consider them my “Facebook friend.” There were other instances where I saw Facebook profiles of people that I didn’t get along with in school, but I just blocked them so I didn’t have to think about them. I still continued my habit of posting everything that happened during my freshman and sophomore years in college. At one point, my dad told me to delete my Facebook account because one of his friend’s account was hacked. I never deleted my account, but I never told him (and hopefully he never finds out). I just started to become mindful about what I post, and who I am “Facebook friends” with. Eventually, the popularity of Facebook was slowly declining as everyone was moving to modern social media platforms like Instagram. I didn’t get an Instagram account until my senior year of college where I started to frequently post photos and stories just so I could keep in touch with everyone I knew during the lockdowns. I also wrote comments on my college’s IG page to protest against the admin regarding the sexual misconduct reports. I still have my personal social media accounts, but I haven’t been posting on either of those lately; I just scroll through the feeds. (I am very active on LinkedIn, but I don't think that counts as social media since it is more a professional site for networking and job searching). The only account where I actively post, comment, and share is the IG account for this blog (which you should follow for the latest updates @pressure.shock).

The biggest change I have done with social media is that I started to take breaks from it. During the pandemic, I would get so much anxiety from “doom-scrolling” and seeing only terrible news about COVID. That made me start to initiate these hiatuses where I wouldn’t be on social media for a while. I started in 2021 by taking a social media hiatus every month of May, and the reason why I chose that particular month is because that is usually when graduation season happens. Because of the pandemic, my college graduation ceremony was cancelled (along with many other 2020 grads). If I were to look at posts about subsequent graduation ceremonies, I would feel sad and alone because I didn’t get the same experience graduating, and I can never get that back. Therefore, that is why I do an annual social media break around that time. I also started doing more social media breaks in other months to avoid spoilers for Marvel movies like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania because normally I don’t see movies during opening weekend. I am actually not on social media right now during my annual hiatus, and to avoid spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3. Don’t worry, I will hopefully be back next month depending on when I see the movie, and then I will return to my regular social media activity. I have noticed that when I am taking these social media breaks, I am not obsessed being on my phone all the time. Sure, it might be difficult in the beginning, but I’ve gotten used to it after a few days. It also increases my productivity and reduces anxiety and stress. Then, when I get back on social media, I can just catch up on what I missed, it isn’t really a big deal.

Looking back on my social media usage, I realized a few things. First, when I look back on every post I made on Facebook, I noticed that they are all cringeworthy, like I don’t know what I was thinking for most of them. Then again, that is what a lot of Facebook posts look like during the old middle school days when the platform was just starting. Second, all the friends and followers I added to both my Facebook and Instagram list I am not even close with half of them. For example, how can I consider my cousin to be my Facebook “friend” when we’re actually related, or that one person that graduated from my high school that I knew back in 8th grade also my Facebook “friend?” I don’t even understand those people who add their coworkers and bosses on Facebook on their “friend” list, like aren’t we supposed to be in a professional relationship? Anyway, I feel like Facebook used the term “friend” a little too vaguely. That is why there is a day called “Facebook Unfriend Day” where you can unfriend people who you no longer keep in touch with on Facebook. On Instagram, it is a little bit different since there are followers, not friends, but the concept is similar. And third, there seems to be an added pressure of what you want to post on social media because everyone will see it, and that reflects who you are. Sometimes people are kind and supportive, but others will cancel you right away. Plus, anything you post is only a snapshot of your life, and you don’t have to be inclined to post every single thing going on in your life. For instance, I didn’t share anything about what happened after I graduated from college on my social media accounts because I am afraid everyone would think I am a failure. Plus, I learned from my not posting anything too personal from my previous experiences using Facebook. It can also give people anxiety when they see other people’s posts of them succeeding in life, but they themselves are not.

So, what do I really think of social media after all this time? Even though it is known to be resourceful in digital marketing and a great way to keep in touch with friends, it does have some flaws. People only use social media to gain popularity through likes, followers, and comments. It doesn’t always reflect the true versions of themselves as they use filters to make their photos look better, and they don’t post every single aspect of their life. However, it makes people feel insecure and anxious giving them this added pressure on what to post. That results in cyberbullying, and cancel culture most of the time. In fact, according to a 2021 survey, 86% out of 1500 Americans reported social media negatively impacted their happiness and self-image. To add to that, 79 and 83% reported negative effects on anxiety and depression. There was also another survey done in 2022 that found out that those who used social media for entertainment during the pandemic experienced poor mental health. (Source: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/the-benefits-of-a-social-media-break-plus-30-things-to-do-instead#How-social-media-affects-mental-health). This increasing use of social media also causes us to be glued to our phones all the time because we are just obsessed with scrolling through the feeds which is also how we get the latest news now. The only reason I got social media accounts is that I didn’t want to get FOMO (fear of missing out) when I graduated from both high school and college. I wanted to still keep in touch with some of my classmates and teachers, and see what they were up to. However, that only made me stick to my phone all the time making me very unproductive. Therefore, it is nice to take social media breaks once in a while, and your mental health will thank you for that. Even celebrities like Elizabeth Olsen deleted her social media accounts because she wasn’t comfortable keeping up an image for the public, and she also didn’t love how her brain organizes her social media. Even Spider-man actor, Tom Holland took a break from social media as he found it be very overwhelming and “detrimental” to his mental health. I don’t know if I will ever delete my social media accounts, but time will tell when I am ready to let go of my online presence. For now, I have a better sense of social media and will use it more mindfully.

Now that you have read about my experience with social media, I hope you have a better understanding of the impacts it has on your mental health. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience, or maybe you will start to use it more wisely. To be clear, I am not saying that social media is bad and you should delete your accounts, I am leaving that decision up to you. Anyway, please continue to follow @pressure.shock for the latest blog updates, but again please note that I am on my social media hiatus so I haven’t been posting anything. However, I am still writing blog posts for this Mental Health Awareness Month series. If you still want to say something about my blog, you can still contact me here.