The common person in this day and age doesn’t think anymore, they scroll.
On average, we spend roughly 3.5 hours per day on our phones. Considering the fact that there’s a large percentage of people who spend significantly more time than that on a daily basis, it’s safe to say that these mobile devices have literally taken over our lives.
Assuming that the majority of time is spent scrolling through social media feeds, our brains are being filled with useless information that typically impacts us in a negative way.
The more time you spend looking at other people’s lives through social media, the more feelings of envy, hatred, jealousy and other shitty emotions of the sort begin to creep into your conscience (even though most of the time those same people you wish you could be more like secretly feel the same feelings that you do, if not worse).
The complete opposite should be the ultimate goal, which is to induce more positive and happy thoughts and energy into your life.
Many use social media as a front to portray a life that they don’t really live, so that they can get likes and shares from people that they don’t really know and feed an ego that is based upon completely false pretenses.
How do you ever expect to find happiness when you’re constantly consciously (and subconsciously) critiquing and criticizing others, while simultaneously trying to be like them?
When you perform these little acts each and every day, they begin to add up to such an amount that you become completely disconnected from the present and totally unhappy and ungrateful for your own life.
F THE BS
It’s time to STOP seeking affirmation from others and from trying to change who you are into an abstract version of what you believe another person thinks you should be.
What you’re doing is assuming that these other people are the end all be all, and that they know the ideal prototype of how someone should look, feel and act in life.
It’s safe to say that social media has really messed up a lot of people, but there’s ways to dig yourself out of the hole.
You must learn to limit your daily dosage of phone/social media usage (I highly recommend using the Screen Time feature on the iPhone to hold yourself accountable) and reconnect with the present moment more (and work on not grabbing your phone, turning on the TV, or going on the computer or any other digital device during these short sessions).
When you work on this and just sit with your thoughts and overcome the feelings of anxiousness, fear, and any other strong and powerful emotions that arise, you can then begin to truly recognize that judging others doesn’t bring any positive benefit to your existence.
That when you slowly stop focusing on others and start looking within, you can build a great sense of connection to reality and the present moment and come to realize that you can be happy just as you are, completely with yourself.
“Happiness comes from within. It is not dependent on external things or on other people. You become vulnerable and can be easily hurt when your feelings of security and happiness depend on the behavior and actions of other people. Never give your power to anyone else.” – Brian Weiss