Instagram is a social network that significantly affects you. If you look at someone’s Instagram feed, you’ll see that people eat, relax, travel, and enjoy all day long.
You might think that people’s relationships are always perfect, without any quarrels and offenses. That is life; there are more happy moments than bad ones.
This is not true. Real-life is very different from the photos that we post. You’ve probably heard and read a lot about the dangers of social networks. These sites are designed to be addictive. A fake view of life can lead you to depression because your real life is different from all this.
But these are the simplest examples. The real danger of Instagram and other social networks is not that we are viewing, but that we are creating ourselves. But first, we’re going to talk about as positive view of Instagram.
Useful use of social networks
Some of you may not use social media to promote a virtual identity. There is information that positively affects people. Many people gain by using social networks. If you are creating the image professionally, then you need to separate the reaction of the crowd from your personality. Some people think that by gaining two hundred thousand followers, they will be happy. But when you achieve this goal, it does not make you happy. Whatever the number in your head, when you reach it, you still will not be happy. It doesn’t matter if this is the number of likes, followers, or comments. This is just an indicator of how many people clicked the button. All these numbers are only business statistics. It is not an estimate of how much you are worth.
Similarly, all comments are not related to you. Sometimes they are about your work, and more often about the person who commented earlier. So take them as reviews. Then re-create things that are useful to others without thinking about what it says about you. If you do want to get relevant comments on Instagram, make sure you use a reliable provider.
Creating a virtual identity.
Each time you publish a photo, you contribute more and more to the creation of a virtual identity. It’s like in any game. You post a photo taken at the Eiffel Tower, and your level of sophistication rises. You delete the photo where you do not look your best, and your beauty level increases. You have chosen these photos to increase these levels. You want this virtual personality to look a certain way.
You deliberately leave bad photos behind the scenes because it is embarrassing, dull, or not appropriate.
Matching yourself with a virtual personality.
The problem arises when you begin to compare yourself with this virtual person. You look at your photos on Instagram and say: “This is me.” At this moment, this mask that you decide to show people becomes you, and you protect it. Each selfie should be pretty enough. Each post should be fun enough.
With each of your posts, you say: “here I am, judge me.” And at that moment, you doom yourself because this person is not you. Of course, you are in the photo, but you are not always so happy. You wrote a great post, but you are not always so witty. These are just fragments of your life that are carefully selected so that you appear in a favorable light. But they do not give a complete picture of you, and even though you want approval in the form of likes and comments, they do not make you happy.
In fact, the more you want to receive these likes, the unhappier you will be. Why?
Firstly. It takes a lot of effort.
To create and manage a personality requires a lot of effort. Think of all the photos you took and deleted. How much time do you spend on filters and editing? How much energy does it take for selecting outfits?
Think about how long it takes to describe what is happening in the caption. You are trying to control how others perceive your reality, and it requires too much from you.
Secondly. You sacrifice your experience.
You sacrifice your own experiences to promote a virtual personality. Last year, my friend went to Asia. A week later, she was homesick and even physically ill. She was lonely, and she hated the whole trip. But she continued the journey for several more weeks. Because she was afraid that people might think badly about her if she stops. She was worried that people would think the trip was a mistake. She kept publishing photos from the beach where she smiles. People commented on how happy she was, but it only upset her more.
We do not do the things we want to do because we care more about what others think of us than what we think about ourselves.
Thirdly. You give your happiness to others.
You give your happiness to the masses. Have you ever been upset that you didn’t get enough likes under the photo? If so, then you are sucking the happiness out of yourself. This dependence on the reaction of others, especially strangers, is the classic road to misfortune. It may take your whole life to please people you hardly know.
Instagram and other networks do not always negatively impact
Limit information consumption
The easiest way to do this is to avoid the news feed. The news feed on Instagram is designed for thoughtless consumption of information. The main page of social networks is more harmful than beneficial. Here are some things to help:
- Unfollow people who publish a lot of things that do not interest you. Then your tape will not become clogged, and this will motivate you to spend less time there.
- Remove apps from your phone. Then you can still log in on Instagram using a computer, and it will be much less often.
- Stop posting for one month. Stop telling stories that praise you. Instead, pay attention to what you like to do. Enjoy spending time at the club, even if you do not post a photo from it. Travel by train, even if no one knows about it.
Do something cool
Do something cool that works well for you. For example, surfing, volunteering, or become a blood donor. At the same time, do not shoot yourself, do not publish it in status. Don’t even tell anyone. It is a great practice to think more about the experience gained than about social approval.