Reply To: Social Media and Mental Health

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#14823

I definitely have noticed that social media can poorly contribute to my mental health. I often fell victim to comparing myself to other posters or feeling like I was not experiencing the same “glamorous” lifestyle as other people. One thing that REALLY helped me was being open on social media about my struggles. I occasionally post the “unglamorous” moments of my life with a note reminding others that someone’s life isn’t just what they post on social media – everyone struggles whether they share it or not. I have gotten such positive feedback from people about being “real” with my daily struggles. This has helped me to stay true to myself because I feel like I am making a difference in people’s lives. Another thing that helped me recently was Instagram adding the option to hide like counts on posts. I used to be OBSESSED with the number of likes I got on pictures and would feel embarrassed if the number was small because everyone who follows me could see the minimal likes as well. Now, I always enable the “hide-likes” feature and it has helped tremendously as now I don’t even think about like counts at all! It is good to see that social media platforms are becoming aware of how their platforms affect people and are providing options to alleviate some of the stress.