Hey Beautiful People,
Social media was all a flutter this past weekend with the Royal Wedding nuptials and fanfare. How many people felt happy about themselves after watching it streamed online all over the world? How many people felt insecure and negative thoughts about their own image after watching the wedding? I am reading more and more how social media is making people feel depressed and leaving them with thoughts of insecurity about themselves. Simply watching a streamed program or putting up a picture on Instagram or Facebook can put a person into a state of depression because they don’t feel they measure up.
In the New York Times article, “You Asked: Is Social Media Making Me Miserable?” by Markham Heid,discusses how a social media can have a psychological impact of negativity.
“Social media overload may be even more detrimental for teens and adolescents, says Jean Twenge in the Times article, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the forthcoming book iGen. “I think young people, especially, look at the so-called ‘highlight reels’ people post on social and compare themselves, so they may feel depressed or negative emotions as a result,” she says. Sites like Snapchat may be less about “performing” than some others—“but these sites go out of style so quickly now that it’s hard for the research to keep up,” she says.
Some experts challenge the cause-and-effect relationship between social media and negative mood, arguing that people who are prone to anxiety or isolation may be more likely to spend a lot of time on social media.
While that’s probably true, Vannucci and Twenge say the relationship seems to flow both ways—meaning people with anxiety or mood disorders are more likely to use social media compulsively, but that compulsive use may also promote these sorts of negative emotional states. “At least two studies have followed people over time and showed that heavy social media use came before lower psychological wellbeing and feelings of loneliness, rather than vice versa,” Twenge says.”
The Comparison Trap
The comparison trap is a dangerous place to live because you are never good enough. If you have made any of the following statements:
I will never get to have my Knight in Shining Armor or Prince Charming?
I will never get to live in a Castle or have all those luxury cars at my disposal?
How come my life can’t be a fairytale?
Why can’t I be thin like that?
How come I couldn’t of be a part of the Royal Family?
If you said or thought any of those statements, you will have to either cast down imaginations or completely turn off what you are watching if you can’t handle it. Negativity is a false sense of wanting what someone else has. You don’t know what price was paid and you haven’t been in the other person’s shoes. Comparison is a false sense of unattainable joy that you will never have because materialism is never enough.
Rapunzel Rapunzel Where Art Thou?
JTwisdom
I use to always want to have very long tailbone length hair because I would see someone with pretty long hair on YouTube and i would always wonder why my hair would not grow that long. One day someone complimented me on my hair and said that they wished they had hair like mine. Wait a minute, they are complimenting me. I am wishing for something that I already have right in from of me when I look in the mirror. I have to be thankful for what I have not matter how small they may seem in my eyes. Comparison is dangerous and will only bring you down and it can be hard to come up for air from that mess.
The scripture that popped in my head was 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
That means you get rid of that comparison thoughts out of your head because you are unique. Immediately when the thought comes up say I don’t believe that I am wonderful made and I am beautiful. You have gifts and qualities that only you can do and God has a purpose for your life. You have value and getting yours off of other people and look at your life and stay in your lane keeping focused.
Follow!