Topic Tuesday // Symptoms of Social Media - Looking after our Mental Health online // Tues 19th Feb, 7pm AEDT

[holly299]

Social media has exploded over the decade and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon and over the years I have faced a number of challenges to my mental health from social media.

One of the biggest problems I faced was cyber bullying that caused a lot of distress. It was a really tough situation because social media meant that bullying didn’t stop after the school bell. I was told just to stay of social media but in a way that wasn’t helpful either because so much organisation and socialisation happened so I would find myself isolated even from the people that were important to me.

Further, there are some incredibly dark corners of social media and one of the things that impacted me was how easy it was to find content promoting eating disorders or self harm which only served to exacerbate my eating disorder.

That’s not to mention the comparison game where I would feel like everyone else had their life together and I was the only one with no idea what I was doing or how to do life.

[Zoe7]

Hi @holly299  Nice to meet you.

Hey @Former-Member always good to see you here too 

[frog]

Hi all 

@TAB  sorry it's hard.

I'm not feeling great, so may come in and out, or just sit in the background.

Thanks for running this discussion though @Former-Member  @holly299 it's really worthwhile.

Hello @Adge how are you travelling?

[Former-Member]

Heya @Zoe7  Welcome! Thanks for stopping by 🙂

@holly299  Interesting points... It is incredible that an entire generation has to consider the notion of bullying once school ends and you're in your safe space at home. I know when I was in highschool it was MSN messenger. Now there are so many platforms!

[TAB]

Thanks @Former-Member

[TAB]

People you know not replying to messages when you can see they are online

[frog]

@holly299  I totally agree re the comparison game. It adds to all 'shoulds' I already feel. My main issue is just getting stuck. It can be a bit of an escape, and then I find myself not getting enough sleep or doing the stuff I need to.

Hi @Zoe7 

[holly299]

@Former-Member there is absolutely so many platforms its getting hard to keep track of them all. I've noticed a massive increase in anonymous question sites which can be so harmful because people send all sorts of horrible questions and so much cyberbullying because they have the safety of anonymity to minimise the consequences to themselves and they don't see just how much they have hurt other people. 

[Former-Member]

@TAB  I find that one hard too, the classic "seen" disclaimer. The mind can go a million different ways. 

@frog  Definitely getting stuck makes sense, almost like a bit of an escape/coping mechanism! I have to reign in my screen time for sure. Thank you so much for sharing.

[holly299]

@TAB this can be really hard. The way I deal with this is realising that facebook doesn't always get it right - I've had times where facebook has said I'm online and yet I'm not actually. Often it's because I've got a window open in the background of study or have left my computer open while doing somthing else. Of course there are times that people are deliberately not responding but I try to remember that they have their own stuff they're dealing with so not responding might be a reflection on their situation