Social media and self-esteem
How to be active on social media without it bringing you down
According to an article in The New York Times, a 2018 York University in Toronto study found that “young adult women using social media often compare their appearance with that of their female peers and think negative thoughts about their own bodies.”
A survey by Northeastern University’s online magazine, Experience, found that two-thirds of respondents experienced “pangs of social media envy in the previous month” while scrolling through their feeds. The biggest triggers included posts about vacation and travel, lifestyle, and money or wealth.
According to Experience, lots of us envy others’ social media posts. But feelings of envy can isolate people instead of bringing us closer.
“We nurse our hurts and grudges in private,” the Experience article states. “But we won’t conquer social media envy until we can publicly acknowledge all the ways it affects us.”
What are some concrete steps we can take to keep social media in perspective?
Curate your Facebook follows
Another article in The Times suggests we take a look at who we are following on Facebook. We can change what Facebook shows us by following only certain people. It’s OK to unfollow anyone who doesn’t spark joy, and they’ll never have to know. (It’s not the same as unfriending.) This has something of a ripple effect. It keeps you from seeing arguments between people you don’t know, and it shows you more of what you’re likely to enjoy, appreciate and interact with positively.
Improve Your Instagram
Selecting what you expose yourself to is even easier on Instagram. Simply follow people, hashtags, or brands you enjoy, without mixing in ones that stir up feelings of inadequacy. For Twitter, the author suggests tuning out anyone who brings you down. Because Twitter is an open platform, it can be a breeding ground for strong opinions. Curating your feed may take more than a few minutes. You can unfollow accounts that gain your attention with controversy and ridicule, and follow more uplifting accounts or topics. You can also “mute” words that annoy you, but you have to mute each word one at a time.