Social media has many benefits, including keeping in touch with friends, staying updated with current events, and self-expression. However, it would be crass not to mention the downfalls of social media use. Many people, including myself at one point, have struggled with low self-esteem, anxiety, and a failure to be in the moment among other harmful experiences because of social media. Through trial and error, I have found ways that have helped me enjoy social media’s benefits without experiencing its harmful aspects.
1. removing likes on Instagram
When I first started posting on social media, I was obsessed with posting pictures with the intention of getting as many people to like my pictures because I thought that if more people liked my picture, that meant they liked me as a person. This is, however, not the case. Choosing to like or not to like pictures on Instagram is a mindless action that people on the other end of it tend to take as a personal attack, myself included. Therefore, when Instagram came out with an update where you could choose to show the number of likes on pictures, I jumped on it.
In order to follow in my footsteps, you can go to settings within Instagram and click on settings and privacy. From there, under the heading what you see, click on hide likes. Make sure to turn this toggle on. You won’t be able to see the number of likes on anyone’s post from this point on. If you want to hide the number of your likes from other viewers, when you post, you can click on the three dots in the top right corner of your picture and then click on hide like count.
2. making your accounts private
When I first got social media, I was obsessed with having followers because I thought that if people decided to follow me, that meant they knew me and wanted to be associated with me. I would follow people I barely knew just because there was a small chance they would follow me back. However, as an impressionable and insecure young girl, I soon came to realize that this relationship was unhealthy and that I had to change my mindset.
By changing my account to private, I was able to monitor who was following me. Not only did this help my mental health, but it also helped me to be safe on the internet because, with a public account, anyone could see what I posted. I had never realized the harmful consequences of this decision to be public until I learned about the digital footprint. Anything that you post on the internet is essentially online forever.
3. Setting Screen Time
If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of time on your phone, for better or for worse. Whether you’re scrolling on TikTok for hours and hours, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, or posting way too much on your Snapchat private story, I’ve been there before. While it can be good to do these things from time to time, too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. It’s important to limit yourself. Screen time can dangerous for your mental health and for your brain health. Therefore, if you think you could use some self-discipline, read below to see how you can implement these tools for yourself.
To set limits for your social media accounts, you can go to settings on your phone and click on screen time. From there, click on app limits, and you can add limits for any apps that you may need. I have one-hour time limits for both TikTok and Instagram. Even though I may not always stick to these limits, seeing that notification that I have gone over my time limit, really helps to put into perspective how much time I am spending on these apps.
4. Posting pictures that you like instead of posting what you think other people will like
I used to post pictures on my Instagram that I thought would make it look like my life was perfect. I wanted to cover up my bad days by posting a cute Instagram picture. I tried to fool myself into thinking I had the ideal life by portraying myself on Instagram in that way. However, I soon realized that doing this only made my self-esteem worse because, deep down, I knew that my Instagram posts were not a true reflection of who I really was and what I was feeling.
One thing that helped me to break this habit was to come to the realization that everyone else on the internet was doing exactly the same thing. Everyone else was just as insecure as I was. Nothing on social media truly showed how people felt in real life. Social media just became a highlight reel for people to show their best moments. Understanding this eventually helped me to understand just how unhealthy this relationship was. I decided that instead of trying to impress everyone else and perpetuate this system, I would just post what made me happy.
Although it may take a long time for some people to come to this realization, I think it is an important lesson that many people will benefit from. Take this with a grain of salt, but nobody cares about you as much as you think they do. They are all too worried about themselves to care about what kind of pictures you post. You are your own worst critic.
You are the only person that will follow you throughout your whole life, so why not take the time now to make yourself happy?
5. Unfollowing people that do not enhance your online experience
This one might be a hard pill to swallow, but this is something that really helped me to enjoy social media again. When I was at my worst, I started to go on social media more often to try to fill a void. However, I soon realized that this was only a temporary solution. I started to scroll on Instagram, constantly comparing myself to other people.
Why didn’t I look like them? Why wasn’t my life as exciting as theirs? What was wrong with me?
These questions filled my mind.
If you notice that the same people are constantly instilling the same negative feelings in you when you see their posts, you have the power to do something. You can unfollow these people to help brighten up your home page again.
If you don’t want to unfollow them, you can also stop their posts from coming up on your page. Go to your profile and search for the account that you want to restrict. Once you find this account, you can click on the three dots next to their name and click on the button that says mute. This will stop their posts from showing up on your page. You will make yourself feel better without having to unfollow someone.
conclusion
Social media. Most of us have it whether we like it or not. Our society profits off of our insecurities. However, we must learn to let go of these insecurities and take control of our life again. What good is comparison going to do? We are all on different paths in life, and no one person is going to experience life the same way as another person will.