The Toxicity of Social Media

Social media allows individuals access to interact with endless content and opportunities to communicate, express themselves, and share with friends and with the world. However, social media also allows for unsolicited comments, negativity, and toxicity to invade your life. Social media’s cancel culture and trolls have increased online bullying and toxicity that can harm so many. Social media platforms have grown in number and popularity over the years, and today social media is an integral part of daily life for billions worldwide. Social media usage and over-usage is especially prevalent and harmful for younger individuals growing up and learning about themselves with the added pressures of social media. 

Social media promotes unrealistic standards of beauty and a distorted representation of life with models and influencers filtering and staging content in order to display picture-perfect, luxurious lifestyles. In this way, social media can create body image and self-esteem issues when people compare themselves to the images they see so endlessly while scrolling through social media. Social media can be detrimental to your mental health when you compare yourselves to others online, pay attention to negative comments, or assess your value by the amount of likes you receive. In addition, social media can be addictive and cause people to spend too much of their time on technology that they miss opportunities for personal connection. People need to find a safe space to share and express themselves with others without letting the draw of social media overtake their lives or become a source of toxicity.

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