Oversharing Online

 Everyone is on social media sites these days. Whether it's Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, or TikTok . 

At the end of my day I often like to scroll on TikTok to unwind and watch some funny videos, but when I don't set a time limit for myself I can find myself going for hours.

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So the benefits of using social media to wind down can actually come with some serious drawbacks like being up past when you should go to sleep. Another drawback is how influencers portray themselves on social media. When normal users view how the influencers "live" they can get the impression that their own lives aren't good enough. I have definitely found myself thinking, "wow I wish my videos would blow up like this," "I wish I looked like that," "I wish I had that much money." These thoughts are not good for my mental health and I'm sure many people struggle with this too. I think that these problems arise on all social media sites like YouTube, FaceBook, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram through the sharing of edited videos and photos. I known I've decided not to post certain photos because after looking back at them I was no longer confident with how I looked when I compared them to my inspiration photo. 

I think that social media sites are responsible for promoting positive mental health on their platforms. The most popular social media site, TikTok, though its controversy in being addictive, has two main ways it combats mental health issues. One way TikTok does this is after scrolling for a while a video comes up saying that I've been scrolling for a while and that I should take a break and do something else. I've taken the advice many times and it's a good wake up call that I need to stop scrolling. This is the video that often comes up.

The other way TikTok does this is indirectly through the content creators on the site. The creators make content themselves that give transparency on their own mental health and promote the positive benefits of having good mental health through their own videos.