Pressures from Social Media

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Social media can be a great way to stay in touch with your favourite people, content and communities. But sometimes it can cause us to compare our lives to others, or feel like we need to be constantly connected and scrolling.

The pressures from social media are very real and they can affect your mental health and how you feel about yourself. Check the info and tips on this page, to help you stay in control.

Feeling stressed?

Many social media features are designed to keep you scrolling, so you’ll stay on the platforms. They might feel fun, but they can also add to stress.

Constant notifications make it hard to switch off.
‘For you’ videos tempt you to keep watching.
Disappearing stories and snaps make you keep checking your phone.

Another challenge is that social media posts can make you constantly compare yourself with other people. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the posts reflect real life, when most of the time they are showing you a lifestyle about as realistic as a movie set.

You might even do it too – whether it’s putting a few filters on your selfie, planning a ‘candid’ photo or posting about a night out that wasn’t actually as fun as you said it was. Most of us create online personas that show the best parts of our offline lives and erase the times when things were boring or we felt a little bit down.

To add to the pressure, the longer you’re on the platforms, the more likely it is that you’ll see content in your feeds that’s negative, upsetting or manipulative. Research has shown that many young people actually want to spend less time on social media and think it would make their life better.

The good news is, you can do things to manage the pressure – even if you don’t want to switch off completely. Follow the tips on this page.

Why it can be worse for younger people?

Children and young people are still developing key parts of their brain – especially the areas that help control emotions, manage impulses, and make decisions. If you start using social media too early, your brain can get used to the ‘rewards’ from likes, comments and views. This can make it harder to take breaks or use social media in a balanced way – now and later on in life.

Giving your brain a chance to grow helps you learn how to handle things better. Your brain gets more practice at thinking clearly and keeping you safe.

Delaying social media use can also help you build a healthier view of yourself. If you’re seeing the same types of people or bodies online over and over, this can gradually change the way you view yourself and others. Even if you know the images are edited, filtered, or even AI-generated, your brain may start to see them as what’s ‘normal’, recognising them as the ‘baseline’ for what someone looks like. This constant comparing can make you feel like you’re not good enough or need to change to fit in.

Tips for dealing with social media pressures

Turn off your notifications and have a phone-free day

If you feel like you’re spending too much time scrolling through your feed and it’s contributing to the pressure you feel, try switching off for a set time. If you feel like you’re getting caught in a social media loop, it can be good to break it up and log off for a while. Leave your phone at home and get out there.

Unfollow accounts that make you feel bad

Go through the accounts you follow and ask yourself whether they are making you feel positive or negative. Then unfollow accounts that make you feel bad about yourself and follow the accounts that make you feel good. Try to keep your feed full of posts that are inspiring or reflect things that you are genuinely interested in, rather than posts that make you feel angry or bad about yourself.

Remember that social media is not real life

Think critically about what you see online – a lot of posts are not 100% real. Behind every staged post is someone taking the same photo 30 times with different angles or carefully placing things to make it look natural. Remember, celebrities put filters on their photos or stage things to make it appear as if their life is way more interesting than it really is. And celebrities have bad days too – even though it may not seem so from their social media feeds.

Check yourself

If you’re feeling unsure about posting something, ask yourself why am I doing this? Is it because I’m trying to look a certain way online? If what you’re posting online is more about keeping up an appearance, it’s probably best not to post it. Being yourself online is just as important as being yourself offline. Stick to posting things that reflect who you really are, and make you feel good about yourself.

Don’t let online trends define your worth

Some online spaces promote the idea that you need to constantly ‘improve’ your appearance. The messaging is commonly gender-based and intended to make you feel insecure about yourself, often so you’ll spend money on products or procedures.

For example, ‘looksmaxxing’ is a trend among young men that can involve extreme ‘appearance-enhancing’ methods like mewing and face pulling (techniques that aim to change the bone structure of the face by applying pressure to it). Meanwhile, women are often targeted by posts and articles promoting things like dieting, cosmetic injections and surgery.

While looking after yourself can be a good thing, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking your value depends on how you look. This can be unhealthy because it can make you feel like you’re never good enough.

You can start by questioning who’s behind the content you see. For example, if someone says ‘Want to get rid of hip dips? Try these 10 exercises’, have a look at their account. Do they run a fitness business? Could they be trying to make money by encouraging you to feel unhappy with yourself?

Talk to someone

The pressures from social media can make you feel lonely because everyone else seems to be having a fantastic time, even though this may not be the case. If you feel like you want to talk to someone about it, or you’re getting depressed, reach out. It could be to a friend or family member, or a counselling or support service.

Get help if something goes wrong

It’s important to remember that no matter how old you are, if you have a harmful experience online you should reach out for support.

Use the in-app reporting tool to report the harm to protect yourself and others from further harm.
If you’re nervous about reporting, you can speak with a trusted adult or a counselling or support service first.

Article adapted from eSafety.