social-media – La Vie En Rose

Everywhere we go, everything we set our eyes on, we immediately are greeted by someone trying to capture the moment on his/her phone. Am I that someone? On many occasions yes I am. I am guilty of spending too much time on my phone, of taking way too many photos, of wanting to share my daily routines with my friends. I can only speak for myself when I say I get a sense of joy out of sharing my simple yet pleasurable life with those I care about. Although, my social media is limited to mostly people I know well and looking back on my posts I truly feel that alhamdulillah Allah has blessed me with a wonderful life. I am a visual person and for me, looking back at my social media I am reminded to be thankful of how blessed I truly am.

However I’ve realized that in recent years and especially with the younger generations, taking pictures and sharing them has become a form of competition. A competition of who has the more lavish life, who has the most friends, who owns more brands and who travels more… so here I ask the question what has social media become to those people? Is it making them happier or is it making them more anxious? And the most thing I wonder about is has it truly become a competition?

Unfortunately today there’s a fine line between sharing and boasting. A fine line between having a good life and showing a good life. A fine line between what’s personal and what isn’t. It makes me sad sometimes to see that my culture that was honored by its conservativeness has suddenly become a spectacle for all to see on social media. Weddings have become spectacles, trips have become boastings, personal belongings have become something to show and compare with others. I fear that the happiness my social media gives me may in fact be making other people miserable.

So this is something to think about. What is social media to you? What do you think it is selling you? Are you gaining or are you losing with social media? What does your social media content reflect about you and has your life become a visual reminder to be grateful or has it become a spectacle displayed purely to compete? Think about it…

This month I talk about a matter that I see as a pandemic in the world today. This month I tackle a subject that I’ve been wondering about and struggling with for a long time. This entry is about the subject of depression. I want to talk about depression because I’ve noticed a rise in the condition in the world today. One would think that with all the technological advancements and urbanized modern day living, life would be easier and people would be happier but that is not the case. In this entry I focus on nourishment, urbanized living and social media as the leading causes of depression.

If we look at the past, people lived with less processed food and more natural produce. Eating was cleaner and men and women hunted and gathered their nourishment themselves rather than bought store preserved products. Food today is genetically modified, chemically preserved and lack the nutrients needed for our health. Today as well, populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, inactive, sleep deprived, socially isolated and sunlight-deficient. Today urbanized living and lack of proper nourishment are a leading cause of depression.

There seems to be a correlation between modern urbanization and depression. Rural inhabitants exhibit less symptoms of depression perhaps due to their simpler lifestyles. Rural areas are marked by their tranquility, open spaces, and closeness to nature. Natural beauty and peace prevail in rural areas and living there offers an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. It is also more affordable living in rural areas which offers more financial flexibility as opposed to the higher cost of living in the city. Living in the city requires a higher income to sustain an adequate lifestyle which is a huge form of stress that can lead to depression.

Thirdly today, social media is a leading contributor to depression. Social media has made life about the individual rather than the collective. We as humans are meant to live as clans and tribes supporting each other and working as a collective. Social media on the other hand has unequivocally made people focus on themselves and themselves alone. The platforms are designed to be addictive and popularity is misconstrued by being measured by the number of views and likes one gets per post. Today success is measured by who’s food recipe got the most feedback and who’s new vacation got the most comments and who’s post got the most likes and who has the most followers. Social media despite having some pros has unquestionably led to narcissism. Today validation is seeked over the internet as opposed to real life meaningful connections. The term Fomo emerges; “Fear of missing out” one fears that if they do not engage in social media as others do that they’ll miss out on connections, trends, news and much more, leading to more fear and anxiety and eventually depression. One of the primary ways social media contributes to depression is through social comparison. Users often compare their lives to the thought-out representations of others that they encounter online. We need to take a step back and look at the effect technology has on our society in terms of people needing instant gratification by indulging in social media rather than interacting with the real community. Children and teens especially are losing the social skills required to create meaningful true relationships with others as they are constantly receiving the false dopamine hit engaging online.

May we educate ourselves and become better observers to these factors that are contributing to the rise of depression in our world today. Eating nutritiously, living a simpler life, and disengaging from social media may create a drastic positive impact on our mental healths. A small ripple of change can offer great rewards.