The Lures and Discontents of Contemporary Social Media Use

How ironic is it that, sometimes, you would just be sitting there, scrolling on your phone, like on your social media, browsing through others’ stories, others’ posts, others’ reels, while you are there in your room, on your own, by yourself, in silence.

To me, that is the saddest part about social media, we would rather entertain ourselves through scrolling through content others’ made than stepping out of the door to experience life ourselves. Is it others’ life that we are interested even, or are we just scrolling through our feed and seeing what others are doing as a mere form of entertainment? Does it even mean anything to see what this person has done or the places they have gone to posted online? Does it even mean anything to us anymore, or have they become indifferent to all the other reels, posts and videos we would encounter in our feed?

Or, we would browse through our social media and see the amazing lives others are living, which we would then use to turn against ourselves, thinking “Compared to my life, their’s so much more interesting, and more entertaining…”. No wonder increased social media use is linked to rises in anxiety, depression and low self-esteem, because we would constantly measure ourselves with the lives of others online that is highly likely to be staged, edited, or shall I say more precisely, photoshopped. Even for me personally, I have to remind myself that what others have posted online does not accurately reflect what their lives are truly like. I don’t believe a single person on this planet has lived every day of their life filled with sunshine and rainbows (I live in the UK, so it’s simply impossible). Social media platforms, in this sense, could then be regarded as the ultimate toxic arena where all the unnecessary comparison and competition occur, based on a pseudo and (inter)subjectively-created visual and behavioural standard.

It’s okay to scroll and it’s okay to spectate what others are up to, but once in a while, we do have to remember that, we are enough. As long as we are making progress and being proud of ourselves, and that is not based on the standards or opinions of others, we are good enough. The focus shouldn’t be drawn to others, but to us, ourselves. What can we do to improve ourselves better, and what can we do to make today or tomorrow an exciting day?