Generation Y or the Millennial Generation includes anyone born from 1983 to 2004. However, those of us born after 1990 are in many ways a generation of our own. We are a generation of technology. The Internet, cellular phones and gaming systems were all created before we were born. Therefore, we were raised in a world of advanced technology.
I received my first cellular phone at the age of eight and also received my first AOL Instant Messenger screen name simultaneously. These were my first steps into the world of social media.
Growing up in a generation that is consumed by Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram throughout each day have taken a toll on today’s youth. Twitter and Facebook in particular have become major contributors to social anxiety. I personally have witnessed my peer’s experience bullying through social media and therefore become increasingly paranoid and insecure about themselves. I have considered deactivating my Facebook many times due to the anxiety it has caused in my life.
Social media forces you to compare your life to the lives of untold many that not only include your friends, but their friends and their friends friends. It is an endless exercise of watching life through the eyes of another person’s experiences. Comparing yourself to others is unhealthy in general, but to do so every day perpetuates negative feelings, depression and insecurities.
Tumblr is a website that provides a different and more concentrated focus on image and provides an outlet where you can blog. Many of the images surfacing around Tumblr are of models and celebrities who appear flawless. Looking through images and clips of “perfect” looking people everyday can only lead to self doubt and low self esteem. Having all these applications on your cell phone can also be detrimental to your mental health and eventually cause face-to-face social interaction to become obsolete.
I personally take multiple breaks from my phone each month when I feel overwhelmed by all the social media. Doing so helps me regain a realistic perspective on life and brings my mental sanity back and remembers that real life does not happen in a computer screen.
Through facebook, twitter and tumblr it is simple to portray your life in anyway you want people to perceive you. The fact is that people forget that when you view someone’s profile you are merely summing up their life based on pictures and words, which is a microscopic portion of what their life truly is about. Therefore comparing your life to theirs based on their portrayal on social media is far from accurate. It is vital that my people, especially those of us of the Millenial Generation, remember social media is merely virtual not truth.
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