Whether you like it or not, social media is part of your life so you can either choose to use it to your advantage or let it destroy your life. Some people have even gone to the extent of doing away with social media altogether because it has messed up their self-esteem. You might be standing in a crowd but you’re having a private conversation with your friends and the people around you can’t hear, but your conversation can be accessed by dozens of people on social media platforms. If people notice your post, you can get a very positive interaction or a negative one. Using social media can leave you feeling isolated and depressed, judged, and cut off from social interactions.
Most people visit social media platforms to connect with their friends, but you might just end up being cyberbullied. Some people worry about the number of friends they have online while others draw comparisons with other people which ends up hurting their self-esteem. This shows that there are some underlying issues that you need to address which includes getting the help you need. With that said, let’s look at some of the ways you can use social media to build your self-esteem.
Figure out how you want to use social media
Have you been using social media as a tool to brand your business, share special moments with family and friends, or inspire people? At times you can get caught up in scrolling through other people’s representation of their lives and you start to compare yours with theirs. This can be a bad thing if you base your self-esteem on other people’s online images instead of focusing on the message you want to pass to your audience. You can decide to use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter to grow your brand and or business and you can also subscribe to automatic monthly likes on Instagram to help grow your brand’s popularity This will give you an agenda every time you’re online.
This gives you purpose and makes you feel good so you’re less likely to use social media to start unhealthy comparisons that only lead to self-sabotage. Or you can decide to use social media as an inspiration tool for yourself and others, which is a great self-esteem booster and when you start to compare yourself, you will know you have gone outside the scope of your social media goals.
Focus more on connections
When Facebook began it was more focused on reconnecting its users with lost family and friends, but nowadays this concept seems to have vanished as more features are added. Today social media platforms are filled with images and videos of people’s lives, used to share new stories, and spreading viral content. This isn’t a bad thing but we seem to have forgotten how to use social media to connect with people. Like when you’re feeling down you can go on social media to boost your self-confidence by talking to a friend.
Although having a face-to-face conversation is better, sometimes it’s not always possible. You can chat with loved ones online to avoid feeling lonely and isolated. You can make social media a positive place to be by not making negative comments on other people’s posts and you will be surprised what little encouragement can do for you and the other person.
Shift your focus from negativity
It reaches a point where you need to realize that you can live without social media. Before social media people were living just fine which means the world will not end if you take a break when you feel overwhelmed by the negativity or you feel lacking in some way. If your self-esteem if being affected by all the people you’re following, you can redesign the feeds you follow to more inspirational, educative, and supportive feeds. Sometimes all it takes is shifting your direction to more uplifting things to boost your self-esteem. You can also discipline yourself to share only specific posts which can help you to stop depending on how many likes you get on your posts to boost your self-esteem.
Keep some things private
Some of the great celebrities nowadays have learned the art of keeping their private and public lives separate. This is is a great way of protecting your self-esteem by focusing on what aspects of your life should remain private and what the public should see. If you decide to upload images and videos of your family vacation on your business page to show a more relaxing side to your business, you can leave out the more intimate photos and keep it between you and your family to protect your privacy. These kinds of decisions will keep you from overexposing yourself in a way that can leave you feeling vulnerable which can make you sensitive to people’s comments. It also makes you realize that you shouldn’t depend on social media for your self-esteem or self-worth.
Stop comparing yourself
One of the most important things you can do to your self-esteem is to stop comparing yourself with other people. You need to realize that appearances don’t constitute your self-worth. Social media portrays the best side of other people without the flaws that come with life so the perfect pictures and life on social media most of the time isn’t real. Focus more on your strengths and not your weaknesses and embrace your uniqueness.
Figure out what you want and expect the best in whatever you do but remember that nobody is perfect so expect that mistakes will happen but don’t dwell on them. And just like you have role models you look up to there will be other people better than you which will make it easier to see other people’s lives on social media as just that.
Final thoughts
Social media is a great place to connect with people but if you get fixated on other people’s online images it can affect your self-esteem. Focus more on the good and positive side of social media and it will be a powerful self-esteem tool you can use.
