Words carry meaning. This seems obvious, after all, we use words to communicate, and the way we phrase things and choose what and how we say them can make a big difference. This isn’t just limited to how we communicate with others, but how we talk to ourselves too.
Recently while doing some research both for school and my own personal curiosity, I stumbled onto the website for Mental Health America. I was interested in looking for different mental health questionnaires and screenings.
Chances are, you’ve probably been guilty of caring about how well your posts are doing if you’re on social media. There’s just something so satisfying about seeing the number of views, likes, and comments build up, especially in the first few minutes of a post going live.
More often than not, we feel like we’re alone throughout middle and high school. It’s a weird feeling – we’re in the same building with all of our peers for hours five days out of the week, and social media can have us feeling connected and lonely at the same time.
You may have heard of self-deprecating humor, or when you make jokes about the things about yourself that you consider to be negative. There’s also teasing and mocking, where you’re not the one making negative jokes about yourself, but it’s someone else saying these things about you to you.
The short answer? There are a lot of ways that using technology and specifically social media affects your brain. After all, the brain is always working and responding to everything, with social media being no exception.
Trying to combat mental illness and the effects it can have on you can be exhausting, hard, and can even make you feel worse. Nonetheless, resilience, or the process of fighting back and recovering from difficulties, is possible.
Summer is officially in full swing, though, it may feel like it’s been that way for a while now if you’ve recently finished the school year or noticed just how hot and muggy it’s been.
There are tons of breathing and meditation apps available online (we’ve covered a few of them before if you want some suggestions!). If you’re running out of space, unsure which one is best for you, or just want something that’s convenient, finding a tool to help guide you with your breathing to help you get or stay calm may be easier to find than you think.
The variety of social media platforms, the kind of content they show, and who uses them allows people to wear different “masks” depending on what site or app they go on. Facebook has become more family-dominated, so many teenagers feel like they need to filter themselves so their parents, grandparents, and other extended family don’t see everything. Meanwhile, teens may use Instagram to present a seemingly perfect and aesthetic lifestyle to their peers (finstas, on the other hand, make teens feel like they can show their “true selves”).
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