I believe one of the reasons that social media is so toxic in this day and age is actually a personal one. You see, when social media was first conceived, it was simply seen as a tool to bring people together. Just to communicate and make friends. That was quite easy. But then, when people realized that they could go above and beyond, giving them access to people that on a normal day, they would never have been able to see, things began to change.
We began to post pictures and videos of our daily lives, and we were able to put our skills and talents to use on the platforms. It was never an easy thing, but for many, long before monetization was a thing, they simply saw it as a tool to pass across a message that they had. And for a while, it was all working perfectly. But sadly, it was working too well.
Because many people began to see social media not as the communication tool it was intended for, but as a twisted mirror that didn’t show you your reflection, but everything that you were not. For many, all they saw when they came online were things that they believed were out of their reach, seeing people of the same age breaking barriers and making huge moves that they could only dream of. For many, it didn’t matter that those strides were likely being made illegally or that they were all fiction. All that they saw was the good life, and it made them disregard what they had.
And therein became the major problem of social media. It unofficially became the ring for competition, people wanted to show off to be more affluent, they wanted to buy the flashiest cars and show off the swankiest lifestyle. And these things were crazy expensive, you either run into debt trying to keep up or dabble into crime to pay for it. So many people were sent into depression and many mental issues.
The thing is, we all have social media at our fingertips, and with everyone posting regular content of their daily lives, sharing their thoughts and whatnot, it’s almost like getting 24/7 access to them. Because at whatever time of the day you want, you go to their account, and their videos and pictures are there for you. You could make comments and get replies. You could text them, and they’ll respond. Being a fan is so easy.
But sadly, being a hater is just as easy. You see, thanks to social media, we’re now more aware of the life that we could be having. We know now that with a different set of choices in our past, we could have had something else, just like what we see online. And this brings about unnecessary pressure. Pressure to level up, to be like our peers, to look better. To perform more.
But that’s the thing, many people are always so ready to turn their lives inside out just because of a stranger online saying some gobbledegook. But if a friend or family member said the same thing, they would be met with great resistance. And that is the power of social media. We keep seeing things that make us question ourselves and our levels of satisfaction, but then, it’s always up to us to stay active and contented. Because once we go down that rabbit hole, there’s no coming back. We’ll simply keep chasing validation from strangers who don’t know we exist.
We’ll basically be signing ourselves into a different kind of rat race.
