Social Media Validation

By Sambridhi Shrestha

Jumping from one social media outlet to another has become our favorite habit without realizing the mental damage it is causing. We are dangerously addicted to it; as soon as we wake until the moment we go to bed we have our phone in our hand, surfing the social media and it has become our daily ritual.

There are hundreds of people in our social media circle with whom we haven’t talked with for ages and who won’t be there to share our sorrows but still, we seek their approval and attention. It’s not as though we don’t need social media, yes we do need it and it has become one of the easiest method of communication, and it also easily connects people from one part of the world to another but everything has its limit. There is a saying that goes, “even sugar gets bitter if we over eat it”,and I feel this perfectly matches the context.  We tend to exceed our limit while using social media. We become more socially deprived and forget to live in the moment, to be more specific when we are in a family gathering or with a bunch of friends we get wedged to the phone rather than enjoying the moment.

Every individual on social media has a different life and experiences different things but we often don’t understand that. We envy others through the small glimpse of their life they show us. It’s just a small glimpse so there are people who have a fake life or are faking happiness, they might show that they are enjoying their life and having the best time but outside the bubble of social media they are lonely and unhappy.  There have been many researches that have concluded that social media is one the causes of depression among teenagers. Others posts may seem tempting and look fun but it does not mean that our own is less fun. We just need to accept in our head that our life is adventurous in its own way.

We seek so much validation and approval from the people who don’t even hold a special place in our lives. Whatever we post on social media people will judge and one person or the other will have a negative judgment but why do we even need that?  Why does a number of likes and comments decide how attractive we are? Why does a caption of a picture decide what kind of personality we have? Do their judgments even matter? Is it even necessary?

There is a world outside of social media where we actually live where it’s not necessary to post everything that includes what food we ate, which clothes we are wearing, how many shopping bags we have, and numerous other things that everyone does in their daily life. If we don’t have much social media presence it’s not a crime, people get so shocked when someone says they don’t have a social media account.

On a personal note I feel seeking validation and affirmation through social media is a form of mental disease which hugely affects our mental health and this disease is highly contagious.