Social media is a vital part of our day-to-day lives these days. Most of us cannot imagine a life without social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and so many others. We are dependent on social media for our daily dose of positivity, happiness – we regularly get updates about the latest developments in the lives of our near and dear ones, people whom we know and also, we get to know all about what is happening all around the world.
However, there may be times when social media can turn into a bane instead of a boon. You find yourself getting stuck in an endless loop, going back to incessantly scrolling your social media feed. Social media may get you to a disturbed state of mind, which you most certainly don’t want.
Does social media detox help? There are several reasons why a social media detox is good for you. We bring to you a few warning signs which may indicate that it is high time you take a break from social media:
1. You can’t stop comparing yourself with other people:
One fine day, you are scrolling through social media, and you find your friends posting statuses or pictures having a good time – while you are stuck in a bad place personally, professionally, or financially. You will quite naturally feel envy watching someone else content at that point in time. Social media will this way cause disappointment and discontent in your life.
2. You go back to scrolling your feed – time and again:
Without any reason whatsoever, you find yourself going back to checking your social media time and again and scrolling through your feed. This scrolling is unnecessary and does not benefit you in any way, but you still do it because you are so used to it.
3. You feel offended or annoyed on seeing what others post:
Social media is no longer a fun activity for you – most of the time, you feel either offended or annoyed on seeing what other people are sharing on social media. These people just seem to be getting on your nerves and you can’t help but get offended at every single thing that they post. You don’t know the reason for your displeasure, yet you find yourself getting offended on seeing other people.
4. You waste a lot of time on social media:
Unknowingly, over time, you grow a gradual dependence on social media and waste so much time scrolling through your timeline, and you don’t even know why you do it in the first place. You have important projects to take care of, urgent work assignments to complete with strict deadlines, and you find yourself checking your social media time and again for no particular reason whatsoever. Time is possibly the most valuable resource that you could have and you certainly don’t want to waste your precious time scrolling through social media which will not be of any use to you in terms of career progress or growth in life.
5. You feel panicky if you don’t check your social media:
There is a term called FOMO – that is, Fear Of Missing Out. Whenever you are off social media for sometime, you feel like you are missing out on so much. You are missing out on the regular status updates of your friends and acquaintances, you are missing out on social interaction and enjoyment. FOMO is something that can give rise to panic attacks – it all happens due to excessive usage of social media.
6. You get anxiety attacks during/after interactions on social media:
Social interactions can be informative and can make you learn a lot of things. With its increasing usage, social media has become one of the primary platforms where you are able to find and meet new people, start a conversation with someone you may find interesting. However, things may take a turn for the worse when you find yourself being bombarded with anxiety attacks from time to time due to interactions you have on social media.
You may wonder constantly what other people are thinking about you on social media, and this habit soon turns into full-fledged overthinking, which will no wonder, give rise to a lot of complications. When social media is the cause of your anxiety, it would certainly make sense to take a break from social media.
7. Your emotional well-being is dependent on “likes”:
Whenever you are doing something new, you can’t help but post something about it on social media – be it pictures, videos or status updates. You go about clicking selfies incessantly and posting them on social media, to get people’s validation on how good you look, how great your outfit and makeup are. Your overall happiness and emotional well-being remains directly proportional to the total number of likes on your posts on social media. You can understand, there is definitely something wrong with that.
8. You get involved with superficial people on social media:
Social media is one of the main sources from where you make new friends, but soon you find out that many of these friends are fake friends-superficial people who don’t have your best interest in mind. Since social media can create a sense of false reality in your mind, when you interact with these people, they may seem to be genuine. Beware of such superficial people who have the capacity to wreak havoc in your life if you let them too close to you.
9. You are stuck in an endless loop:
Social media creates an endless loop in which you are helplessly stuck – you do your daily chores, go to work, get back home, spend time with your near and dear ones, go to sleep. In the middle of all of this, you have checked your phone 2000+ times. Social media can give rise to unhealthy sleeping patterns and sleeplessness as well, since your eyes have so much screen exposure all day long.
Like everything else, social media has its share of advantages and disadvantages. Social media can prove to be greatly helpful for people who want to use it in a productive manner. However, if you find yourself being negatively affected by the excessive usage of social media, it might be high time for you to cut down on social media usage or take a temporary break altogether. We hope this article helps you get some clarity about where you stand on your social media usage and take a decision for your own good.
Read more
Why Quit Social Media : 12 Benefits of Doing Social Media Detox
Pin this for later
