There was a time when we used social media to escape our mundane reality. Going on social media signified a break from work. But, now we are hooked pretty much 24X7. We live, breathe, and perform our lives according to what would become the best highlight on our social media feeds. We socialise with friends, build community, promote our work, and network on social media. We are constantly curating our lives for social media and being on 24X7 can be exhausting as hell.
The fear of missing out is real, and it is what keeps us hooked. But, it is worse for your mental health – especially your anxiety and depression – than you realise. We all edit and sanitise our feeds to make it look like we are living the best version of our lives. We only post about the food we eat when it looks delectable. Our outfits and makeup is always on-fleek on our Instagram feeds. We make it seem like we are either constantly travelling to picturesque places or planning our next grand adventure, that a regular joe with a regular salaried job can never afford. Our lives are grander online.
When we publish an artwork on our feed, we do not publish the millions of drafts that found their way into the trash before we arrived at that speck of perfection. In many ways, the way we behave on social media resembles the movie stars who claim they were discovered while walking down some obscure street. They don’t want you to know that had to go on a hundred auditions, face rejections, or that they too struggled with the imminent uncertainty of their futures. It sounds grander when you tell people than you were born with Einstein-levels of genius, and never had to work on honing your skills.
Essentially, we credit people who claim to be perfect, who claim to have arrived at the peak of their success because it was always destined. You fear missing out on things because then you will not know something that everyone else around you has already experienced. How stupid would that make you feel for having missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime? How awful would it be to get accused of living under the rock even though you could’ve easily chosen to come out of the shade and seen the world with your own eyes? It won’t actually sting that bad, trust me.
After suffering from a complete mental breakdown, a while ago, I realised that the saying ‘living under rock’ is actually not a denigrating insult at all. Living under a rock, complete dissociation from the outside world, AKA being on a break from social media, can actually do wonders for your mind, soul, and by extension your body. I was suffering already. I was locked into a dark room, unable to talk, eat, or even sleep without medical assistance. The idea of jumping into the dark abyss of social media became a natural anathema. I responded to no texts, spoke to no one on call, didn’t feel the urge to fervently check up on what everybody is up to by stalking their various feeds and stories. And when I started feeling better, feeling healed, the urge remained just as low, which was a phenomenal feeling to have.
I haven’t yet reached zen, of course. But, I am working on it and this break from social media and the outside world helped me realise how much it was necessary. I don’t need to sit in my room and feel FOMO. I can switch off and pick up a book instead, while sipping a hot cup of chai, not giving two hoots about what everyone else I don’t really care that much about to begin with is up to. And it feels great!
