Social Media & Anxiety – A match made in your DMs

Social media is a great way to connect with our peers, however, the ever-growing popularity of oversharing and our desire for validation through likes, retweets, and followers can often lead to feelings of anxiety and depression. 

Let’s be honest, social media creates anxiety in a number of people within our capitalistic consumeristic society. It leads us to partake in compare and despair, FOMO, and addiction with our online image. It prompts us to partake in behavior that we wouldn’t usually, if not for the influence, creating within many what some have coined, ‘Instagram-envy’.

A study conducted by David Baker and Dr. Guillermo Perez Algorta of Lancaster University assessed social use and anxiety. The study featured 35,000 participants from 14 countries, aged 15-88 and results showed that “comparing oneself with others on Facebook is more likely to lead to feelings of depression than if those social comparisons happen in the real world.” They also found that “Facebook’s check-in culture factors into our habit of comparing our lives with others, leading to ‘rumination,’ or overthinking”. But it’s not just Facebook the ideology applies to, it’s all forms of social media, especially platforms that are heavily visual and centered on the self, like Instagram.

“Comparing oneself with others on Facebook is more likely to lead to feelings of depression than if those social comparisons happen in the real world.”

Arguably, all of us have faced social media anxiety. Julie Spira, Online Dating and Netiquette Expert, seemingly sums up a daunting aspect of this anxiety: “While the need to connect and engage is so powerful and instant, we often have expectations that the recipient has immediately seen our digital correspondence. We often assume they’re either ignoring us or are mad at us. More often than not, people are just busy and can’t always get back to you in a digital minute, as you.”

While people are often busy preoccupied with the many facets of life, we live in an age where humans have become, at times, zombies due to their mobile devices; walking slowly while on their phones, not paying attention to their surroundings.

I was once interactively following and followed by a woman on Instagram who posted a meme which read: “If you message me and you think I’m ignoring you, I swear to God I am, my phone be in my hand all day”.

While this woman never ignored me, essentially she was bragging about rejecting others and ignoring them, this giving way to anxiety via the avenues of rejection and envy, rejection in that you are purposely being ignored, and envy in that this person seemingly thinks they are better than you.

President of Csorba & Company Ltd and psychologist Eliana Cohen told Global News that “millennials are, essentially, torturing themselves by looking at social media,” by misinterpreting achievements on social media, media stories about hyper-successful millennials, and countless options in possible career paths and constant striving to achieve potential.

“Millennials are, essentially, torturing themselves by looking at social media.”

And if you’re one of the many millennials that gets down on themselves after viewing others’ social media, know you’re not alone. On social media, people only share the best aspects of their lives. Cohen’s tips for coping with social media anxiety? Find solitude, reflect on the “golden threads” that connect you to your passions, think about long term goals, compare to yourself no one else, and face to face interaction.

We live in the age of accessibility, and while it is no secret that social media compels and coerces us to partake in behaviours that we would, perhaps, not partake in independent of it, recognizing the problem is the first step toward solving the problem.

As someone who thoroughly believes jealousy serves no productive purpose and that it is just the opposite – counterproductive. I have always maintained the phrase, “Don’t get jealous, get inspired”.

“Don’t get jealous, get inspired.”

To what end does jealousy serve? Dare I say, that while none of us are perfect, jealousy is for those analogously at the end of their road, those whose time is up, those who have plateaued – believing in themselves that they lack the ability to transform or rise.

For me, it has always been about inspiration. If someone is better than me in some aspect I ask myself: How can I be more like this person with regards to that quality?

Jealousy and anxiety are going nowhere anytime soon. Ultimately, what it boils down to are the standards you set and the degree to which you value yourself.

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How do you deal with the anxiety that comes with social media? Let Vv Magazine know in the comments below, or tweet us @ViewtheVibe.