Anxiety and Social Media: Are They Related?
How Social Media Makes Us Anxious
Social media usage has run rampant in recent years, and the trend has continued to skyrocket throughout the global pandemic. As more and more people stay inside in quarantine and isolation, more people look to social media to find fulfillment and connection. While some of these connections can be a great thing, relying on social media can be detrimental to anxiety.
If you’ve used social media, the odds are that at one point or another you’ve used it to compare your life to someone else’s. You’ve wished you had their car, their hair, their clothes, their house, or their seemingly perfect life. We do this subconsciously without even realizing it as we scroll through pictures and text for hours on end. These seemingly insignificant comparisons can be a make or break in our mental health.
Social media is used to create a beautiful picture of our lives. Though some social media users are very candid and real with what they post, this vulnerability is a new trend. The majority of users utilize social media to show off all of their good moments. We all know this because we are all guilty of doing it, but our brains somehow forget it while we scroll.
Perfectly edited pictures and beautifully curated captions translate into perfect lives in our minds, leaving us longing for a reality that doesn’t exist. When we use social media as an escape from our lives and compare our struggles to the seemingly perfect lives of social media influencers and long-lost friends, we increase our anxiety.
Another way that we increase anxiety through social media usage is when we get all of our news from social media. If you’re an avid Twitter or Facebook user, you’ve more than likely seen breaking news on one of the two platforms before seeing it anywhere else. Though this can be a great way to get initial information, the issue comes when you use it as your primary news source or when your feeds are flooded with news-related content.
In the age of a pandemic, politics, and natural disasters, a social media feed full of news is not one that is healthy. Your brain does not need all of this information all day long, and the fact is that anyone can post anything on the internet at any time. Catchy titles and clickbait links lead to anxiety because that is what they are intended to do. Individuals craft articles to pique your curiosity and get you concerned so that you go to their websites. This is not healthy for anyone, and it spreads misinformation quickly.
When we become reliant on social media and find ourselves scrolling for hours when we should be doing other things, reaching for Facebook first thing in the morning, or scrolling while we are with real-life people, that is when social media has become something we are dependent on. Like any other addiction or dependency, this is not healthy, and we need to take steps to deal with it.
How to Use Social Media in a Healthy Way
While social media can certainly make us anxious and cause issues with our mental health, there are ways that it can be used to better ourselves.
Detox from social media regularly
The best way to start a healthy relationship with social media is by detoxing from it or deleting the applications for a while to release your dependency on them.
Go through your friends' lists and delete people you don’t know
Why do you follow 500 people you’ve never had a real conversation with? Do they bring inspiration to your life, or do you use them to compare yourself to? Do you care about them, or are you just being nosy? Ask yourself these questions while clearing out your friends' lists. If you have too many friends to do this, start a new account. This fresh start will ease anxiety as you craft social media that works for you and only holds people who add something meaningful to your life.
Block triggering keywords and people
Did you know that on sites like Twitter you can block posts with specific words in them? Utilize this feature to block posts that may cause anxious feelings. Use this time to also block any people who cause you anxiety! If an ex popping up on your suggested friends every few weeks makes you anxious, block them so it doesn’t happen again. This is your social media account, own it.
Have dedicated no phone time
If you’re scrolling on Instagram all hours of the day, it’s probably causing anxiety that you don’t even notice. Be sure to take time to do without phones and social media and limit your time on these sites! Using them as soon as you wake up and right before bed can ruin your sleep and potentially your day, so resist the temptation!
Make social media work for you
Your social media is just that, YOUR social media. It is no one else’s. You don’t owe anyone a virtual friendship. Join Facebook groups that align with your interests, follow accounts that inspire you to be a better person, and befriend people who you genuinely care about. Post things that make you happy and don’t worry about a perfectly curated feed, because that just increases anxiety!
If you can make your social media work for you, you can turn it into a tool for self-improvement and collaboration. If you can’t imagine this yet, it’s time for you to take a step back and detox from social media. Either way, it’s okay!
I challenge you to look at your social media accounts today and ask yourself, what is this adding to my life? Is this causing more anxiety or joy?
Counseling for Anxiety
If you feel like your anxiety is taking over anxiety therapy can help. If you have questions or want to know how I can help, I offer a 15-minute consultation. Please reach out today!
