If you remember the study on 13 year olds, you might remember some of the findings. Marion mentioned that many of the teens had experienced emotional distress from social media due to feeling socially excluded and social comparison. Not only this, but there is a correlation between media use and depression. She also shared a story about a girl that committed suicide after months of comparing herself to others through Instagram.
Something clicked in me, and I realized that for the past year, I have been feeling emotionally distressed every time I check Facebook. There was very little positive and too much negative coming into my life due to Facebook. And I realized how sick I was of it. How sick I was of seeing everyone's "glamorous" lives. Sick of seeing everyone only post things about themselves. Before deleting my account, I did a little experiment and scrolled through my feed for five minutes. In that time, I counted any posts that were uplifting and not, in any way, selfish. I could only find one. All the others were things like: "Made this dinner for my beautiful family tonight" (with a picture of a Pinterest worthy meal) or "My husband just randomly came home with this necklace for me. Im so blessed" or "Our one year anniversary! He treats me like a princess. I have a giddy, perfect life!" (with a picture of the couple). Not to mention all the selfies I saw in that short time. I just finally came to the conclusion that the posts I see don't make me feel good about myself. They only motivate me to get that "perfect picture" or make the "perfect dinner" and post about myself. As if I need to keep up with everyone else in the competition for "Best all around person in the world."
When I first made my Facebook, I remember that much of the posts were good. They were about others. Or about important news that relatives and friends would be interested in hearing. But lately, its been a lot less of those posts, and a lot more of the self-indulged posts. And it's very sad to me. Its sad for me to look at the way I think now. When I go places, I want to take pictures. When I do something great, I want to post about it. Not to mention, I secretly always want my husband to post something sweet about me. It's just ridiculous. And I've decided that I want a change. I want to change. And I feel deleting my Facebook will be a good step in the right direction.
Since deleting my Facebook on Thursday, I have not once regretted it. It feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders. It's been nice. Im done ranting now. I'll close with two quotes that also inspired me to delete Facebook:
"You won't inspire your teammates by showing them how great you are. You inspire them by showing them how great they are."
"If you want to give light to others, you have to glow yourself" -Thomas S. Monson
I can very much relate to your feelings about Facebook. When I look back on the past few years of my life, I realize that I felt the most confident during my full-time mission. I have no doubt that this has something to do with the fact that I was completely removed from social media. I was not constantly comparing myself to others, especially my weaknesses against other people's strengths. I do think Facebook can have positive uses, but we do have to be careful to not let it determine our happiness and perception of ourselves.
ReplyDeleteLove this! I've been thinking about doing the same. I deleted it for 6 months last year and I believe i was emotionally so much happier. Thank you for your post! I think I need to follow suit.
ReplyDeleteWow thank you for your post! I totally believe in the power of deleting your Facebook. I have always had a problem with comparing myself to others, so I have deleted my Facebook many times in the past. In high school, I used to delete my Facebook every summer for the whole summer. This gave me the time to renew myself and to relax from social media pressures. It was a time to do what I wanted and to not worry about what everyone else was doing. It was also a time to not worry what everyone was thinking about what I was doing. I feel like when you're about to delete your Facebook, you feel nervous because you think you're going to miss out on something. If something is that important to miss out on, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to receive that information through other ways than Facebook. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDelete