5 Ways Your Social Media Habit May Be Fueling Your Depression

The endless scrolling.

Instagram. TikTok. Facebook. Twitter.

Everyone's lives are on display. Picture perfect representations of the ideal life. The ideal dates. The fashion and beauty representations. Perfectly organized homes, no clutter in sight. And yet, how often are these true representations of reality? Let alone our own realities? Not often.

We live in the age of social media, self-comparison, and perfectionism. We know, at this point, that social media morphs our lives into something false and idealized. Do we want them to be what we post? Absolutely.

But the cost of social media perfection is high. In fact, it may actually be worsening your depression. Here are five ways that this is happening.

1. It Promotes Unrealistic Expectations

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. As if being there, not here or being them, not us - could make life so much better. The clean homes. Picture perfect selfies with 60+ likes and reactions. That family photo where they all look so unified and happy. And because of this, we expect that our lives should look like that too.

This worsens symptoms of depression. The constant asking of ourselves, "Why don't I have it more together? Why isn't my life like this?" It makes us unnecessarily sad and unworthy in our own lives.

2. Connected in Every Way, but More Isolated

As humans, we are programmed to crave human connection. We want to feel a sense of community and belonging. Social media should promote this, after all, we can be connected to anyone at any time through our platforms.

Yet, we still feel alone. Even before the pandemic, social media created a faux reality of community that affected us to a lesser degree. Now, we have been socially distanced and relegated to remote work. This often just makes us feel worse. Because while we are getting that social connection - it's not supposed to be like this so much of the time.

We want to be in person, together, with those we love. But social media gives you the excuse of staying connected in a secondary way. How often do we take the time to call on those who are five minutes away from us in person? Or to even hear their voice on the phone?

3. Hiding Behind the Screen

Humans are not always known for being kind to one another. Technology does not make this go away, in fact, it seems to make things worse. Why? Because it is much easier to say what comes to mind, unabashedly, without worrying about the repercussions of saying it to someone's face.

People can be  unnecessarily cruel to our fellow humans and technology completely enables this. So if you are feeling depressed more often, take a look at what you are reading online. The online jabs, the comments, and forums. How often do you see words of kindness on social media?

4. Glued To The Social Scene

We've always wanted to be in the "know." To know exactly what is happening in our social circles, communities, and the world. That is nothing new. But social media is exacerbating this tendency.

Think of the number of times you check social media per day to stay in the loop. It's a distraction and a way for us to stay connected when we should be doing other, more productive, things. This constant checking can worsen depression because it tends to be all we can focus on and fuels anxiety about missing out or being left out.

5. It Takes Us Away From What (or Who) We Enjoy

It's easier to pick up our smartphones and scroll through social media after a long day. It takes more work to pick up that book or hobby you have been wanting to dig into. That distraction-free conversation with a friend or family member gets put off.

Arguably, the worst thing about social media is that it is an easy distraction from what we enjoy. And when we aren't doing something we like, we aren't giving our brains the mental break and real-world boost they truly need.

Finally, learning to break the habits we form because of social media is undoubtedly hard, but not impossible. If you notice your depression feels worse after a social media scroll, read more about depression therapy and reach out so we can help you break this cycle.