Case Study: How Social Media Affects My Mental Health

Hey guys! So, I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I was going to cut out social media to see how it affects my mental health (among other things). I cut out Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pintrest (don't really use any others so I didn't have anything else to cut out). It has been like three days and actually a bunch of things have shifted for me! 

First off, I have been so much more confident and sure with my life and the way things are going! I am so much less judgemental towards myself and my self esteem has started to raise. I am still having moments where I am like "Oh my god, I should really be this way instad of that" but overall, I am still more confident in my life. For me, I notice that I end up comparing myself to my friends a lot. When I am having days where I am sitting at home, in my sweatpants, eating ice cream out of the container and have left over pizza on my coffee table, I see my friends posting pictures. I start to think "I am doing nothing with my life, I feel so unfulfilled." A buddy of mine mentioned a quote to me (not sure where he got it from) but it is so true, "Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all people's highlight reels. They aren't the bad times, they are only the good." And I could not agree more, I am not bragging to people on Facebook with pictures saying "look at all this ice cream I ate!" or "I gained those 5 pounds back!" I only post the good; the highlight reel of my life. Since I have stopped watching everyone's highlight reel and focusing on what I am doing in my life more mindfully, I have felt more accomplished and more secure with how things are going. I am taking a two day course on suicide prevention so I can get a better job. That is a good thing! I have travelled and have made my life a life I want to live. Just because I can not be active all the time, does not mean my life sucks! So this change hopefully will grow and become stronger!

I am falling asleep faster and sleeping deeper. Because of the previous result, my anxities have lowered, this means that I am not racing thoughts through my head contsantly and staying awake (or just awake on social media), I am able to fall asleep and stay asleep. It is great, so that is affecting my overall health.

I wish that I had measured my blood pressure before I started, but I didn't. I know it was slightly high, not high enough to cause alarm, but after this is done, I am going to measure it at work and have a nurse take my vitals. However my resting heart rate is usually around 85-90 (usually closer to 90) right now in this moment it is 78. So my heart rate seems to be getting better. 

It is still too early to get big results, but this is just after like three days this is what I have to report. So here we are :)




EDIT: I also have more time to spend with my cat, I know this isn't related to my mental health but it helps my physical health. When I spend more time with him, he gets less stressed and less worked up so he sheds less, also while I am spending time with him, I am brushing him which limits the hair that spreads around the apartment, and I am also exercising him which is good for him. When he is happy I am happy. Just thought I should share this point here!