I had a very nice talk some weeks ago about the impact on your mental health when using social media. My guests talked about the fact that we need to be aware not to create another person on social media than the person we are in real live. Which meant more to them than only the fact whether you use filters or even professional pictures, it is more about the things we share and the things on which we react. Are the messages and responses you share genuinely linked to your honest thoughts and feeling?
Would you also say those things in a real conversation? What my guests said was that on social media a certain barrier is gone, some things are easier to say when you do not have the person in front of you.
Basically they raised the awareness that we should not just for the sake of more likes or followers adapt our tone of voice. We need to think twice about our vision and the things we share. Because eventually we might lose ourselves and we do no longer know in what we believe. Be an honest consumer od social media and be an honest voice out there, think about what really feels right and wrong to you before you spread it out there.
Social media platforms are not a computer game with avatars, it is about you and yourself.
I do see some people that are able to write great things (or copy them from somewhere) but when you meet them in real life, it is as if you talk to another person. That is weird and might even be very disappointing.
We also talked about the danger of getting isolated if you stay to long in your social media bubble. Especially when the bubble you are wandering around on social media is not a bubble you dare to go into on a real terrace, party, meeting. And that either goes in a professional and personal setting.
Just remember: we are all beautiful just the way we are and have our own set of unique characteristics that make us who we are.
So I encourage everyone to start sharing that part of yourself more often and use social media as a way to inspire others as well as receive inspiration daily. Be real with those who follow you and engage with them on a personal level.
