Social media is a place where everyone feels entitled to share every aspect of their life. This creates a rising issue in mental health, because even if someone was originally perfectly content with staying home, “Becky” is out at a local coffee shop, and now you feel like your life is boring in comparison. FOMO (fear of missing out) has been a common issue that rises because of social media comparison. Since the current state of the world is in a global pandemic, this issue might be slightly resolved, or better than it was before. Now that everyone across the globe is staying indoors, and doing significantly less than they were before, there is no room for lifestyle comparison; because we are all living the same lifestyle.
This might seriously impact this issue, because the study depicted in this article shows conclusive results that spending less time on social media reduces user’s FOMO and depression. If we are all staying indoors, there is nothing to have FOMO about. This might seem like a circumstantial solution to a realistic problem, because it is. While the recent lifestyle changes for everyone are significantly helping this issue; the best way to solve it is to reduce your social media usage if these mental health issues are real in your life. It takes self-reflection and self-discipline to know what each user needs out of their social media usage, for their experience to be positive and helpful.
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 