Social media is huge, with the majority of the world having an account on what platform or another. There are many lies and false beliefs that social media pushes, though, and they aren’t good for your mental health. If this wasn’t bad enough, when you take into consideration how much time people spend on social media, it’s even worse. Take a look at just a few examples of the lies social media peddles.
Everyone travels all the time
It’s very easy to spend a lot of time on it, too. From scrolling through it on your phone to quick breaks on your Work Laptop, it can find its way into so many hours of your day. If you were playing a game where you had to scroll through your entire timeline on social media without seeing a travel picture, you’d lose pretty quickly.
It’s often said that social media is a highlight reel, and this couldn’t be more the case when it comes to travel pictures. The people you follow, whether that’s celebrities, family members, or friends, aren’t going to share photos that they think aren’t interesting.
For this reason, it can seem that while you’re at work or just sitting at home, everyone is on some incredible adventure somewhere. Understanding that this isn’t the case, and they were likely in a very boring place when they posted it, can be a big relief for the average social media user.
Everyone is a supermodel
Photos can be very deceptive at the best of times, with lighting and angles doing a lot of work. When you add in the concept of filters on top of this, they are even more so.
What started as a fun thing to do on social media, filters have turned negative very quickly. Where you once were could just make yourself look like a cat or just something funny. You can now completely change the structure of your face.
This can be harmful in two ways. Firstly, when you see yourself with these filters on all the time, you risk not liking how your actual face looks in real life. Secondly, when you see everyone’s photos online and don’t know a filter is being used, it can start to mess up your idea of beauty and what’s real.
Considering the idea that they may be using a filter each time you see a selfie is a good start to combating the feelings these edits can create.
Everyone’s an expert
Before social media, the only opinions that you may have heard is from loved ones or those you spoke to on a regular basis. Social media has opened the world up to each other’s opinions, and while it can be a good thing, as you find like-minded people, it can also have a major downside.
When everyone is airing their opinions to the world, it’s easy to feel that you aren’t as informed as anyone else with the amount of time the average person spends on social media. The likelihood of the situation, though is that they probably aren’t as clued up on a situation as they are letting on.
Taking each opinion with a pinch of salt now and again is vital for healthy social media use.
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