Tag Archives: socialmedia

Social Media: A Double Edged Sword

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Social media is a double edged sword. On one hand, it’s good. It keeps us connected, keeps us creating, informed, and entertained. But on the other hand, it can make you feel bad, really bad. One minute you’re scrolling through Instagram liking your cousin’s engagement posts, the next you’re wondering if you need a nose job and spiarling into a pit of comparison, dread, and jealousy over your high school bully being accepted into law school. It’s no secret that social media plays a huge role in your daily life, it’s just ingrained in us now, almost a part of us. I bet the first thing you do when you wake up is check your social media accounts. And hey, to clarify, I’m not judging, because this is what I do, I wake up, actually not even fully awake, and I’m already scrolling through Instagram. What a nice wake up call right? Be honest, social media doesn’t leave you feeling any better than you were when you got on right? So are you putting yourself into the position of endlessly doom scrolling into stress and self-donut? Or do you get off social media feeling like this new and improved best version of yourself?

The phones

Before I completely trash social media and tell you that it’s doing you absolutely no good (and I know, I know, I use it too, I’m guilty of all of this) I can give it credit for the good things about it. As someone who’s family lives all over the world, social media is a way to connect us. I get to see what my little cousins are up to from their parents’ social media, or what my crazy uncle has been re-tweeting, it keeps me in the know of their lives from quick day to day scrolls. It feels good not to be totally cut off from them and be able to see what’s going miles and miles away. Social media can also be an educating thing. Whether it’s mental health awareness, political movements, or social justice causes, social media platforms like X (Twitter), Instagram, and TikTok have changed how we can get in the know of important things going on around us. It’s also such a great way to get creative and connect with people. Podcasts for example, there creative, educational, and inspiring 10s across the board from me. 

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Social media can be extremely harmful for you and you might not even notice it. It’s a trap. It sucks you right in and you get addicted to scrolling and you just dip yourself into a hole deeper with each swipe and click. Scrolling through Instagram can make you feel like everyone has a better life than you. Someone’s on vacation in Greece, another person just graduated from college, and your high school crush is getting engaged. Meanwhile, you’re still trying to figure out how to fold a fitted sheet properly, let alone put it on your bed first try without realizing you got the wrong corner. It’s the comparison trap. You start by comparing lifestyles, then maybe you compare material items, like other people’s bags, clothes, and jewellery, and then you start to compare your physical image to others. You just wish you were them, and it sucks but you just can’t put the phone down. But what you have to realize is Instagram and social media is just a highlight reel, that perfect couple you see posting all the time is probably in some stupid argument all the time, and that person vacationing Greece could have a lot of stuff going on behind the screen that you just don’t see.  They’re not showing their bad days, their financial struggles, or the 100 attempts it took to get that “candid” selfie. Everything can be edited so you have to remember, you aren’t seeing the photo be taken right then in person, so how can you be sure it’s real? Social media can force you to compare your life to other peoples and create some serious FOMO. Even if you’re perfectly happy staying in on a Friday night, one look at a Snapchat or Instagram story can make you feel like you’re missing out on the best night of your life. Seeing other people constantly doing fun things can make you feel like your life isn’t exciting enough, even if you were totally fine five minutes ago. It gives you that feeling that you’re doing life all wrong, that you need to be living by other peoples standards and ways of life to truly be fulfilled which is all so wrong. 

Social media doesn’t just affect your mental health by way of comparison, there’s doom scrolling too. Ever spend an hour reading bad news and then feel like the world is ending? That’s doom scrolling, and it’s a major problem for mental health. Social media is great at keeping us informed, but the constant stream of negativity can make the world feel way more chaotic than it actually is. This just brings you to feelings of crazy anxiety, stress, and a feeling of helplessness. It’s like your finger is stuck on auto pilot, just swiping and finding the worst each time, it’s an awful cycle. But it’s not entirely your fault, social media apps are literally designed to be addictive. The endless scroll, the notifications, the random rewards of likes and comments, it’s all meant to keep you hooked. There has even been research done on the colour of the buttons and notifications on which ones get the most clicks. It’s absolutely insane, no wonder the whole world is glued to a screen, social media was built for us to become addicted. 

Debating School Social Media Policies

The internet can be a brutal place, but people just feel way more comfortable and confident behind a screen, but with this comfortability, it can lead to people just feeling way more comfortable to be mean behind a screen. Cyberbullying is a massive issue, from comments under posts to direct messages cyberbullying is out there more than you know. Even if you haven’t been directly affected by cyberbullying I’m sure you’ve seen a comment under a post once or twice that is just so appalling and unnecessary, you wonder who could ever say those things. 

Like I said before, social media is a double edged sword. A blessing and a curse. It can connect you but at the same time isolate you.. Inform you, but at the same time overwhelm you. It can entertain you, but at the same time, it can really drain you. Again, I’m no saint and I really should be listening to what I’m saying, but it’s addicting, it’s hard to stop. But the trick is to use it as mindfully as possible, which isn’t the easiest task. So, next time you find yourself deep in a TikTok hole at 2 AM, ask yourself “Is this actually making me happy?” If the answer is no, maybe it’s time to put the phone down and go catch some probably, much needed Z’s. 

 

The Social Media Paradox

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Social media is pretty much unavoidable nowadays. It’s become a part of your everyday life. You can search just about anything, watch anything anytime instantly, run a business, market a business, post, like, comment, share, communicate, and even more on social media. It’s completely taken over life now, but the question always arises – has it been taken too far? What do you think? Do you just wish it would go away sometimes? Maybe that TikTok ban would’ve been a good thing. Social media has fully changed the way we interact, communicate, and take in information. It’s just an integral part of modern life influencing everything from politics and business to personal relationships and even how you see yourself. But with all the benefits we can see from social media – it’s a paradox because it can be awful. It’s a space we love to visit and can’t seem to get off of, but it can make us feel miserable. 

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Here’s why I’m a fan of social media. It’s instant connectivity. One of my best friends lives in Germany, if social media wasn’t a thing, it would take weeks to get in contact with her. Now we just send instagram posts back and forth to each other and comment on each others TikToks. It’s so easy. It’s an instant gratification and keeps us caught up with one another no matter how close or far we may be. I even got my grandma on Instagram and now she can keep up with all her grandkids on socials and even find some new recipes to try. 

Instagram!

Social media can also create a sense of belonging. Different online communities like makeup influencers and even wilderness camping videos can make you feel a part of someone’s life, like you actually know them. From online chat rooms to live videos, it’s a place where people can just make friends, be happy, and share in some common interests. 

The internet is also a great source of entertainment. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are designed to provide endless streams of short, digestible content, 30 second videos are less that show what we want to see. I mean I’ve been guilty of scrolling on TikTok for hours alone in my room literal;y laughing out loud at some of the videos I see, however at the end of the day, that never makes me feel good about myself. This constant stream of never ending entertainment not only distracts us from the monotony of daily life but also provides us with brief moments of laughter and connection. It’s a weird type of escapism. You are able to tune out of daily life but that enthralled with the chaos of other people’s life. It’s weird, it’s addicting, it’s now the norm. 

One thing I notice the most is social media is a great place for self expression. There’s different areas of the internet where everyone is accepted for everything. You can be free to create and post whatever. Whether it’s posting Day In The Life videos or Get Ready With Me’s, or even live streaming you playing video games, you can just be you on social media and you will be able to get followers that share the same interests. Sounds all sunshine and rainbows right? 

SnapChat

But here are my main problems with social media. It can be a place of bullying and lead to many insecurities and bad habits. 

Social media can be an addiction. A lot of people just have their phone glued to their hand with insane screen times of up to 10 hours a day. And it’s a bad cycle too, one that leads a lot of people to a feeling of guilt and regret, there goes your whole day to just watching someone else live theirs. 

One of the most frustrating aspects of social media is the pressure it creates to present a “perfect” life. It’s super important to remember social media is a highlight reel. People pick and choose what they want to show. So that Day In The Life of that perfect influencer you may have seen is likely not accurate. It’s a constant battle of comparing yourself. Wishing you were like the people on your screen when in reality those people perfectly curate their posts, editing, filters, and only sharing what they want. It can become super messy. The constant exposure to perfection can be mentally exhausting. Comparing yourself is one of the worst things you can do to your esteem and unfortunately, social media does an excellent job of forcing us to compare. 

So much time and energy can get wasted on social media doom scrolling. This is probably one of the most anxiety inducing things out there in the world right now. It’s the habit of endlessly scrolling through negative posts on social media. Deep diving into the latest problems and issues when in reality probably more than half of it is fabricated. It’s tough and it’s hard to change and break that habit. 

Even though you probably know what it does to your brain, it’s just something you can’t let go. t’s a paradox: we love it for the connection, entertainment, and validation it offers, yet we hate it for the anxiety, pressure, and disconnection it also causes. But again it can be so complicated because of all the good that has come out of it. What do you think? Has social media gotten out of control? Or is it doing a good job keeping the world closely connected? 

Doom Scrolling :(

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Ugh doom scrolling. The thing you and I know all too well. You sit down for 5 minutes, open up TikTok and one hour has passed. Why does this happen? My eyes can literally get glued to my screen and I’m just swiping through content and more content until I realize what I’m doing is insane and it’s time to go to bed. I almost get a guilty feeling. Part of it probably comes from the amount of time I just wasted but the rest of it comes from me just comparing myself to everyone I see on social media. And the comparison I’m doing is literally my productivity levels. Like wow I just scrolled here for an hour. This person just cleaned their whole room – way to go me. 

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The mindless scrolling that almost feels automatic just takes over. Trust me, I get the doom scroll struggle. It’s like a mental trap that’s hard to escape from. Once you start scrolling, your brain just kind of shuts off and you go into autopilot mode. And then, of course, the algorithm does its magic—more stuff you didn’t even know you needed to see. Before you know it, you’ve seen every trend, every influencer’s “day in the life,” everything going on in the world of pop culture, and you’re mentally exhausted, but still, you keep going, scroll after scroll. It’s almost like your mind is tricked into thinking you’re being productive because you’re absorbing all this information. But in reality, it’s just draining your mental battery.  Even though you may not realize it. 

I’ve come up with a great saying to get myself off my phone, “If I have 15 minutes to scroll, I have 15 minutes to stroll”. Not going to lie, this has been a game changer with my screen time. Even when I’m at the gym and my workout is all done I think to myself, am I just gonna sit in the parking lot in my car on my phone before I drive home? Definitely? Get back up on the treadmill. 

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So how do you avoid it, well to be honest, I haven’t really figured that out yet. And I’m not preaching to the choir about my healthy media habits – I’m far from it. So how do you handle your doom scrolling? No regrets video after a video, or do you feel some of the guilt that I feel. 

 

Cancel Culture: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

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Cancel culture, a term that you’ve probably heard bounced around quite a bit in the last few years. It can be kinda confusing too, people get cancelled then un-cancelled, maybe you’re not sure what people are even cancelled for, or maybe you’re not sure why people aren’t getting cancelled for what they said. It’s a bit of a messy topic. Some of it has no right or wrong or answers while on the other hand, sometimes the answers are quite obvious. 

Cracked Stop

Cancel culture is literally all about just canceling someone. Looking at the social media aspect, it could mean fans unfollowing, reporting, blocking, or just ignoring the person who got cancelled’s page. It’s kinda a social boycott that spreads quickly, often fueled by social media outrage. Celebrities, influencers, politicians—nobody’s immune to being “canceled” these days.

It could be looked at in a couple of different ways, people trying to hold powerful people accountable for the wrongs they’ve done, twisting people’s words, or just even cancelling someone just for the sake of cancelling them – see, kinda messy, actually really messy. 

A lot of social media scrollers have also been known to dig for the dirt. Pulling up posts from way before the person got a following or even famous for bad comments, actions or remarks. I think it’s always entertaining to see how the person handles it. They either take the high road and fully acknowledge the wrong they’ve done no matter their age or circumstance or they take the low road, the “this was so long ago, I didn’t even know” not a good look on them in my opinion, just own up to it! 

The good thing about cancel culture is that it sheds light on the people you follow, who influence you, and who you trust online. I mean you wouldn’t want to support someone who didn’t align with your views and who knows you may have never known the real them if it didn’t get brought to the surface. 

In the end, cancel culture is messy. It can be empowering, but it can also be problematic. What do you think? Has the whole cancel culture gotten out of hand, or is doing its job with holding people accountable?

Scroll, Click, Repeat.

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Let’s make a bet.

I bet you can’t read this whole article without picking up or glancing at your phone once. 

Starting now, ready, set, go.

We live in a world where we can be instantly gratified and find anything within a few clicks. Want to see a video of a game recap, easy. Want to learn how to change a tire, consider it learned. All you gotta do is just pull up google, type out a few key words, and bam, instant access to a variety of resources. Pretty cool right? Our world has insanely quick access to just about anything and everything right at the moment, a blessing and a curse.

So when is it a blessing? Well it’s pretty obvious, if your tire goes flat on the way home from work and you want to change it yourself you can get a step by step tutorial on how to do so. But on the other hand, all these quick searches can become overwhelming and being bombarded with all the content can create a lot of anxiety. Like if you want to search a quick update on politics you will get an influx of a bunch of information coming from all different sides and opinions and you may find it hard to decipher what to believe and who to trust. 

By now you’re probably wondering if you have gotten any notifications or text messages, I know, me too, but just resist that urge to grab your phone, you’re almost there. 

TikTok is the worst culprit of the whole instant gratification thing. TikToks are usually less than 30 second videos that are over and done with before you know it. And you can just scroll and scroll and scroll not even watching the whole video, it’s just that quick gratification in the first few seconds, then on to the next. Our culture has become so addicted to these quick clips I bet I can guarantee you don’t remember the last time you watched a movie from start to finish without picking up your phone. Even in theatres I always catch people scrolling on their phone. 

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Last night I was watching Elvis (which in all fairness is a longggg movie) but within the first couple seconds I found I was on Instagram. I tried to be conscious of this throughout the movie but honestly I just found myself back on my phone again and again.

I guess this is just the place where our world is at now. Short attention spans and addicted to instant gratification. I’m starting to think a TikTok ban wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Did you make it? If you did congrats and cheers to your attention span, if you didn’t no stress, I think I spent more time scrolling in between writing this article than actually writing it. Oops!