Hey Humans,
I'm a little annoyed RN. I just wrote 85% of this post, clicked on to Twitter clicked back and it had all deleted. Just wanted you guys to feel my pain for a minute.
*breathes and counts to ten like I learned in imaginary therapy*
I have covered this topic a little on both my Mental Health and Why I hate Instagram blog posts. I enjoyed writing them both but wanted to look further at how the two work hand in hand.
One of my favourite bloggers Hannah Gale wrote a great post on Social Media envy here, which is obviously very much present in today's world of Instagram hoes, Interracial YouTube couples and Beauty Bloggers that have celebs like Kim Kardashian as their models, um crazy.
In my opinion YouTube and Instagram point more towards damaging mental health than other platforms. On YouTube we are watching perfectly edited moments, even the real 'raw' moments are airbrushed and sad music is inserted at the perfect time to get a certain emotional reaction from us. YouTube videos remind me of the 'best bits' clip when someone is kicked out of the Big Brother house. Even honest moments are used to show them in a 'positive light' and to have us sympathies. I don't knock it though because I mean who would want to post their flaws and insecurities for the world to comment on, not me really. I think we are all guilty of only showing the amazing parts of our lives on social media but I want us all to be realistic too.
Instagram works in a similar way in that we are shown the highlights of a person's life. I salute @MayaJama for posting this after posting a hot bikini pic and receiving a lot of 'want to be you' comments.
I salute you woman.
I see Twitter as a more realistic place. People do share important opinions etc. but a lot of what Twitter is about is being real and laughing. My feed is full of people outing there flaws and the not so great things about their life so everyone can relate and laugh together because 'Oh, other people have a hangover on a Saturday morning and I'm not the only one.' On Twitter I can be my true, Netflix and Pizza on the sofa self and no one will bat an eyelid.
Part of the reason I have a private Snapchat is because I feel like it's my 'ugly place'. I can snap at 9am in the morning in bed, I can snap with my wig off and I can tell everyone I'm on the toilet about to do a sh*t. I think I feel better because A. I personally know everyone on my snapchat and B. I know it will be gone in 24hours. I don't think you are judged as much on these platforms and the image I feel like I usually have to uphold is no longer there. This makes me sad cause I wanna be my ugly self without people feeling like they absolutely HAVE to comment on how you look, speak, think and put your bra on. (It's my bra and I'll put it on upside down if I wanna)
Chrissy Teigen, Maya Jama and Amy Schumer bring a little light to the picture perfect world of social media and I love it, more accounts like these pls pls pls. We need more realism on the accounts of people who young people look up to.
Looking at perfect Instagram accounts all day can well and truly force envious thoughts. We are designing ourselves to be liked by people that we don't even know. There are days when I feel like my brain looks like an Instagram feed and it gives me an actual headache, I feel like I am being suffocated by Social Media and as you can imagine that does not do wonders for my mental health.
Shamefully I have to admit there are other days where I actually sit there and think 'my Instagram @shay.rs' looks like crap maybe I should just delete the whole thing because it's not good enough. Turns out I'm just amazing as I am and so are you. Social Media envy is really real and it's hard to see the flaws in others' life when we are only shown perfectly created content.
There is no doubt that Social Media is adding pressures, anxiety and damaging the mental health of our young people. I urge you all to take a break as often as you can. Go out and leave your phone in your room, delete the apps for a day if they are distracting you. Don't let your social media persona live in perfect peace while your real self is being deprived of fresh air, seeing real people, loving flaws and simply closing your eyes.
I just want end by saying that this is part of my rebrand and why I altering the content of my blog. I don't want a pretty, ticking all the boxes to get advertisers attention blog. I want a real blog where you guys see my beautiful pictures (that I take, not calling myself beautiful by the way, lol awks) but also know I have a life outside of them where I struggle, recycle outfits and deal with mental health, every single day.
Stay beautiful.
With Love,
Shay RS x
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Twitter - shayrs_
