Have you ever looked at someone else’s life on social media and wished that your life were more like theirs?
As humans we have a natural instinct to compare ourselves with others. Our brain releases feel good hormones when we see that we are superior to others, or stress hormones when we think someone else has the advantage. Because we live in the age of social media, where photos and information about others are literally in the palm of our hands, we can be comparing ourselves to others several times a day without even meaning to.
The problem with this is that we are comparing ourselves to the perfected and altered versions of other people’s lives, well the parts they choose to show us online, it often makes us perceive our life as something less than it is. Social media is having more of an influence on our self-image than the media or even magazines.
Research on Facebook use has discovered that after looking at a fictional profile that was deemed superior, people experienced poorer self-esteem and made lower evaluations of their own attractiveness, healthiness, fitness, likability and popularity. They also discovered that people who use Facebook more frequently have lower self-esteem than those who use it less, likely because they are making more comparisons each day. Other research has found that viewing superior social media accounts led to people rating themselves as further away from their ideal self.
We all know that what we post of our own life on social media is filtered, sometimes edited and definitely the shot that shows us looking at our best. However we seem to find it difficult to apply this knowledge when looking at the content of others, still believing that they have better lives than we do.
So next time you’re scrolling through your feed here are some things to keep in mind:
Be kind to yourself
Think of what you see online as an art form. It is the way people choose to express themselves, but it isn’t always truthful. The Huffington Post recently published an article where Instagram influencers showed the amount of photos they took before getting ‘the shot’, some took more than 200!
You don’t have to be perfect to be great
Everyone, including the person you follow on Instagram who seems to have it all together, has bad days. Everyone struggles with some part of their appearance or life. What you are seeing online is just a snapshot from their otherwise imperfect life.
Be mindful of self-criticism
Be mindful of what thoughts you are having about yourself as you scroll through your social media feeds. Notice when you’re having thoughts that you’re not good enough and try to think of alternative positive thoughts about yourself.
Or if you are really serious about switching off the negative vibe, delete the accounts of anyone that make you feel less of the wonderful person you already are. This also applies to your younger humans.