The pressure of the perfect post

Young Adults and College students have centered their whole life around social media, what they use it for and the pressure of the perfect post. I have noticed that social media users tend to feel the need to post everything that they do. From the breakfast we eat, to snapchatting selfies throughout the day, we are constantly posting. Sometimes we even take hundreds of pictures just to find one perfect picture to post, which also needs to be edited, filtered and have the perfect caption. All of this work just for one instagram post. Sometimes we even post pictures that are far from reality to be perceived in a certain way. Now, I'll admit I am guilty of overthinking what I post on my social media, as well knowing that whatever I post will forever be in the public eye and a representation of who I am. How much pressure is that! I am also guilty of constantly scrolling through any given social media sight throughout the day when I feel like I am in an awkward situation, am bored or just to ease my mind. To say the least with social media being such a huge phenomenon in this day and age there is a lot of pressure that comes with it a well as positive factors as well.

The Positive Affects

Social media can be a great outlet for many different aspects and can have a very positive affect on peoples lives, if used correctly. Social media can be a great place to network and reach people around the world in a way that is more efficient than the alternative. For business owners, different online platforms can be a place to promote their products and get their brand noticed. A lot of people have found a way to make a living solely by using their social media accounts to promote their products/ services. Social media is also a great way to stay connected to old friends and make new ones as well. There is also a lot of influencial content that is posted online such as uplifting quotes, motivational speakers and communities that offer support that aren't as easy to obtain elsewhere. Social media platforms can be a great place for people who share similar interest, raise awareness to important issues and keep up the news. I got the chance to talk to some amazing women who are all young adults that have found ways to use social media in their favor.

Stories:

Ally Okonski

Small business owner

“Having my business on social media has really helped me promote it and there really isn’t any other way I could have done that in my opinion”

Okonski is the owner of “The A’s bouquets” which is a floral arrangement business that she runs solely off of her social media accounts. I got the chance to interview and she told me a little bit about how social media has had a positive impact on her business.

Interview with Okonski

Alexa Hyslop

Social media influencer

“Social Media has been such a great outlet for me to help promote different products and make commission doing so.”

Hyslop is an influencer and brand ambassador for a number of different brands on social media. Alexa has expressed how social media has been such a positive thing in her life because it has given her a way to make money by posting pictures of herself with many different products because of her large number of followers. She started off using social media for her personal use and then when brands started reaching out to her she realized that she could get paid for endorsing products. Most of the time brands will give her a brief summary of what they want her to say send her products to promote. Then she will simply do a photoshoot with the product and post the picture.

Ava Christoffer

Social media manager

‘Social media has been such an amazing tool and big component on how we represent our chapter.”

Christoffer is in charge of the social media accounts for her sorority and expresses how social media has helped her sorority promote themselves.

Interview with Ava Christoffer

The negative affects

Although there is a lot of good that can come from using social media sights, there are negative affects to using them as well. I would have to say that the most common. Negative affect that comes with using social media is how addicting it can be. It is very easy to spend hours at a time scrolling through social media and losing track of time. Sometimes we might not even be aware at how much time we spend on it because we are so busy scrolling and finding endless content to consume our minds with. It can sometimes be very hard to manage our time to leave room for doing productive things such as school work and chores. Sometimes social media can even hurt our relationships by spending time on social media instead of quality time with those significant in our lives. Because social media can be so addicting people easily access it in group settings instead of communicating verbally which can lead to everyone just staring at their phones. The saying “hang up and hang out” is commonly said between friends if someone is on their phone for too long. Although this saying can be a light hearted way to tell your friends to get off of their phones and be present in the moment, there is also an very surreal meaning behind it. There are also many dangers that come with using social media that young adults tend to not thing about when using it. There are a lot of people who misuse social media, therefore bringing a very negative light to the it. Getting hacked, your identity stolen, being exposed to inappropriate, getting catfished by people pretending to be someone that they are not and getting cyber bullied are just a few of the reasons why social media can be very dangerous. Social media can also take a toll on ones mental health if not used properly. Certain things like stressing about how many likes you get on a picture or comparing yourself to others can lead to body image and self esteem issues. It is easy to look at someone else on social media and questioning if we are good enough solely by comparing ourselves to them. Sometimes what we view on social media looks so perfect in our minds but is far from reality. Spread of misinformation, cyber stalking, lack of face to face communication and hate speech are just a few reasons why social media can be harmful to our mental health. While conducting research for the negative affects that social media has on us I got the chance to talk to some individuals who have experienced negative affects it.

Stories:

Summer Kloer

Student who has completely deleted social media

“Not having social media has helped me focus on what’s most important in my life, I feel more genuine and present with those around me”

Kloer has chosen to delete social media due to the negative affects that it has had on her life. Watch this interview with her as she talks more about what her life looks like without it and her reasoning for deleting it.

Interview with Kloer

Tate Stidham

Student who has chosen to take social media detoxes

“I frequently take detoxes from instagram and other social media apps and completely delete the platforms. I do this because I find myself in a very toxic circle of comparing myself to others and getting addicted to always being on my phone because of it. I have found that social media can be very hard on my mental health because of the content that pops up on my feed and how easy it is to let it affect me.”

Tina Willis

Parent of two social media users

“Parents must be very cautious and monitor what their children are doing and viewing on social media platforms”

Willis is a parent of 2 children of the ages of 16 and 20. She expresses her concern for social media from a parent perspective by stating, “The negative effects I see from social media are these to name a few. The fact that people can be bullied by others non stop which can affect a child much more than it just being done at school. I also feel that children compare themselves to others more and this can cause them to have a poor self esteem. And third there are many adults who pretend to be kids on social media and scam children and even worse start having inappropriate relationships with them. There are great reasons for children to have phones now, but parents have to very cautious and monitor what they are doing and viewing. Because their have been many children kill themselves because of things that have happen on social media.”

From a psychologist point of view…

Audra Ochsner

Ochsner is a psychologist and mom from San Antonio Texas whom I got to Discuss the mental health aspects of social media with from her stand point. Check out the video of our interview to listen to her explain her views about the affects social media has on young adults.

Interview with Ochsner