Social media: The influence it has on consumerism and wellness.

More than half of the population uses social media as of today, and 90% of teenagers. At what cost?

Here is my experience with social media, its ups and downs, the effects it has had on me, and how to prevent yourself from going too far. And by the end you can decipher social media’s ‘fate’ for yourself.

There have been countless times where I caught myself procrastinating and mindlessly scrolling through social media in bed without a purpose. Scrolling through videos and videos until my battery runs out. I’m sure all of us have. Even at times where I thought I had nothing else to do, there are always chores that could be done or work to catch up on. And in the blink of an eye it’s way past my bedtime, I haven’t done much of anything and I go to sleep feeling guilty. Wake up, go to school and repeat the cycle. Living life like this is not truly living, it's being stuck in a loop of dopamine, being so dependent on social media will not get you or me anywhere. After all, I know it’s hard to just drop a bad habit. There’s countless books and articles written about it, it always takes time. But if you start now it will be easier in the long run. “But how do I start?” you might ask.

Quitting Social media

For a start you first have to realize you need to quit, to realize is to find the negatives and remove the sugar-coat. Which is honestly easier said than done, considering social media feeds into the want of a perfect life. Rarely up until recently would you have seen people showing the reality of life, and the things that happen off camera. All you would see is people with completely unrealistic lives, intricately crafted image, lifestyle, appearance, friends and everything. And instead of doing things to become a better person or have a happier life ourselves, we keep scrolling. The algorithm is purposefully designed for you that way, to keep you hooked.

One way to start off is to filter your recommended page and subscriptions. I personally found this most effective. Going through all my subscriptions and removing the ones that either:

1. Don’t matter to me anymore.

2. Aren’t linked to my interests.

3. Aren’t useful whatsoever.

4. Make me feel bad about myself or my lifestyle.

I then looked at channels that will motivate me, study motivation channels, podcasts, health channels and art channels. Obviously everyone has different interests, so follow what you think will motivate you. I also found that sometimes when I procrastinate or can’t focus, I like listening to music or podcasts to fill the silence and not get distracted. So then when you do go on your phone you are met by content that reminds you to put it down.

Another big factor is your environment, especially when there’s homework to be done and your desk is a mess. It’s hard to focus that way. For a start try deep cleaning and reorganizing your room every weekend at your own pace. And then eventually it will become a habit to the point that you will keep it organized throughout the week. Main point is to do things bit by bit, when you catch yourself on your phone, put it down and continue limiting your screen time. And I promise you, your attention span on things you ‘couldn’t get done’ before will only get better. But that’s just the start, keep trying different tactics and see what works best for you.

Feeling pressure into impulsive online purchases

Consumerism and Parasocial relationships.

I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about why social media is plainly ‘bad’, self image issues, insecurities, anxiety, cyberbullying, addiction, shorter attention span, depression, stress, isolation and much more. Which are all impacts that people including myself tend to experience with excessive use of social media. But have you ever heard about how it affects what we consume and buy? Social media is one of the top places for advertisements and sponsors, feeding us well edited content of people with perfect lives. It builds a false and unreachable expectation and you as the consumer believe in it. Wanting to achieve such a standard, you keep scrolling through to see more, looking at everything that influencer wears, uses, does etc. This especially applies to beauty products and articles of clothing. And then you want those things for yourself, thinking that by getting them you’ll become ‘perfect’ too. This mindset can have two sides, like a coin. Plainly getting or doing these things because of the influencer, or getting inspired in a positive way or feeling nostalgic and just wanting to try it. This doesn’t necessarily matter to the companies, but it should matter to you. Despite that, this doesn’t mean that you should still impulsively buy everything you want or see. Try doing some research first and ask yourself, Do I need it? Do I see myself with these things in the future? And will it truly make me happy long-term and impact my life in a positive way? Thinking about this you might realize that maybe you don’t need it, and become more grateful for what you already have.

The Good of SOCIAL media

In spite of my experiences, in life it’s important to see both sides of the spectrum. When interviewed, one of our school counselors, Ms. Shipley mentioned “Social media can be used as a weapon”. Though she also agreed that social media is not entirely terrible. It just depends how you see it, and social media can still be a positive thing as long as you put your mind to it. On the contrary, it can be a great place to find and do all sorts of things. It can be used as a creativity output, a source of inspiration, a way to keep in touch with your friends, a place for communication and entertainment, and a way to share the stories and ideas of millions of people around the globe. There’s many positives to social media, many of which people tend to forget.

In conclusion, if there is one thing I want you as the reader to take away from his article, is that all of us should be more mindful and present. Not fall victim to spending hours on end scrolling on your phone. As depressing as it sounds, I want you to realize that someday you will regret not doing other things instead. And if you’re ever struggling in any way to either drop this habit or anything related to social media in general, please reach out to someone and don’t resort to ignoring it. I genuinely hope that you will ask yourself these questions next time you scroll, so we can all become a better version of ourselves. And then I’m sure the world around us will start to become even better too.