The illusion of everyone's perfect love
In the following context, social media apps refer to TikTok and Instagram, not messaging services such as WhatsApp or Telegram.
Social media apps only have a positive impact when not installed on your phone.
But Sebastian I get my daily dose of cute puppy pictures or restaurant recommendations of Instagram. While that might be true in addition and for free you also receive the following:
- Reduced Attention Span
- Cognitive Processing Delay
- Neuroplasticity Changes
- Increased Anxiety and Depression
- Emotion Contagion
- Self-Esteem Issues
The detailed description of the conditions above are not relevant for this article, but the wording itself and amount of negative effects might create some discomfort in you.
This would all be fine if you live alone without any human context and just decide to invest/waste your time on social media apps. But at some point in life we want to get into a relationship and not just any but a healthy, trustful and supportive one.
Imagine you're ready for your life's partner, but your mind is only capable of processing 5-second videos any more.
I'm not innocent and spent countless hours scrolling through reels, where 30 minutes later I couldn't remember what exactly I watched and in addition I also didn't feel relaxed, rather more anxious and somewhat under pressure. At some point I decided to stop watching these videos and rather read a book or do nothing.
If you follow 100 content creators on Instagram and watch their videos your brain constricts the perfect example of life even tho no one of these creators has it. You take the looks of couple A, the travelling tips of couple B and the food recommendations of couple C. Couple D talks about how he has to treat you. Couple E talks about how you don't have to give anything back because he has to treat you like a princess.
Small gestures of love or the good morning hug don't feel the same, because in your subconscious mind you expect the social media relationship that opportunely everyone else has. And from this point on you're not only ruining yourself, but the loving relationship you're in.
It's one thing to take advice from something as unsupervised as Instagram, especially when you're on the low. It's even worse if you take advice or resolve a situation through social media that you should fix with a talk to your partner. Likewise, it's the worst if you rather invest time on social media in the ideal perfect world than your real and loving relationship.
I never experienced it that way, but I'm scared to lose someone in the future to a 5-second video fake world and the only response to my last effort to talk to the other person is: What are you talking about? According to UserX812 we have a perfect relationship. Oh, and what do you think about moving to Australia I saw this on Instagram the other day.
Social media apps only have a positive impact when not installed on your phone.
Social media apps are a world itself and knowing that it's fake, and you're not part of it is far sweeter than chasing the perfect everything. Others can have the struggle, while I finish the puzzle with my wife that gets her restaurant recommendations by her best friend's blog and the cute dog energy when stepping into the other room.
