Social Media in a Positive Light

Hello beautiful people! It's been a little while since I've been on here, and I'm hoping I'll have more time to work on posts during winter break. Today I want to talk a little bit about social media, because it has a HUGE impact on our everyday lives!

So I feel like we all hear about how horrible social media is ALL. THE. TIME. And to some extent, it can be. Social media can have such a negative effect on body image, relationships, time management, and many other things. We've probably heard a lot about the dangers about social media, which is a good thing, because we all need to be very concious about what we're posting. But what about the good things? There are a lot of benefits and ways to use social media in a better way, and I want to talk about those!

Our social media feeds are so personalized, but I feel like we don't take advantage of our ability to modify what we see. Recently I just "cleaned out" my Instagram, and I honestly feel so much better. I went through the people I was following and unfollowed a bunch of accounts. As I was scrolling through I found that I was following people I hadn't talked to in years, or people I barely knew. So I thought to myself, "do I really need to be following all these people?" I only have so much time in the day, and do I really want to spend a ton of that time looking at posts from people I don't really know that well? I decided to unfollow those people, not because there was anything wrong with them or their account, but because it was taking up a lot of my time to see so many posts from so many people.

I also unfollowed negative impacts on my feed. I don't know about you, but a lot of my friends and I have "finsta" or "spam" accounts on Instagram (why do I sound like a 50 year old woman when I say that?). On those accounts people post a lot of rants and stuff like that. I realized that I was getting so many negative vibes from some of these accounts. Some people would talk bad about others, some would have an overall negative vibe, and some would make me feel excluded. I started getting fed up with people talking trash or being negative, so I just decided to unfollow the accounts that did that. I feel so much better because I'm seeing less of the negatives and I have more time to spend looking at things that make me happy.

So conclusion of those last two paragraphs? Just unfollow what you don't want to see. It's seriously so freeing and nice and you spend way less time on social media because you're not looking at as many things as you scroll through your feed.

So what else can we do to improve our accounts? Follow things that inspire you. You can cultivate your feed and add things that make you happy or things you want to see. I'm gonna throw out a few accounts that I like to follow and ones that help brighten my day:
@earth (Instagram) :: They post pictures and videos of the Earth and they're all so beautiful and it inspires me to travel the world and see new things. Definitely the best account I follow across the board. 
@dallasclayton (Instagram) :: He posts inspiring quotes and cute drawings that make me really happy. They add a little color and joy to my world. 
@cleowade (Instagram) :: She posts inspiring words and poems that are motivating to read! They're all done in really nice handwriting so they're super pleasing to the eye.
@happylilkrill (Twitter) :: Okay, this girl is seriously the best. She posts inspiring tweets, and honestly sometimes just seeing a "you can do it!!" can help me get through the day.

I like to sprinkle in a little bit of positivity into my feed so it will remind me to stay happy. A lot of my friends also inspire me with their feeds. They edit their pictures to make them flow well together and have a nice vibe. I love seeing people I know having fun adventures because it makes me want to do the same. I like to see people having fun because it inspires me to go out and take on life, just like them.

I know you guys have all probably heard about how we shouldn't compare ourselves to people we see on social media, so I'll keep it brief. I know it can be hard to not compare ourselves to others. Personally, I compare myself more to my actual friends on social media than celebrities. So guys, remember that each and everyone of you has something beautiful and special within you. Find that, and express it. If social media is your thing, use it to express yourself. My biggest piece of advice is to not obsess over what you're posting, or the numbers that go along with posting. I've watched people obsess over whether or not they should post certain things, and I've seen people obsess about their likes or what not. I admit, I used to be like that. But then I realized that it really doesn't matter. It's MY feed, and MY posts, and it's a reflection of MYSELF, not anyone else. So don't stress about it too much, because trust me it's not as important as it seems. No one is going to freak out if you post twice in one day, and you're still gonna be the same beautiful human even if your selfie only got 50 likes instead of the 200 it rightfully deserved. Social media is in no way a reflection of your value. That's not what it was made for, so we don't need to believe that it is. Take time to define your value in a way that has nothing to do with social media.  

So why is this important? Whether we like it or not, for the most, part social media is a huge part of our lives. Of course our time could be better spent doing things besides staring down at our phone screens, but we definitely still spend time with social media. So for something that has such a huge impact on the way we live our lives, shouldn't we use it in a way that inspires us? I think we should and I hope you agree.

Thank you so much for reading! Friendly reminder (without trying to sound like your mom too much) to stay safe on social media and make good choices about what you post! Think about how it affects you and the people around you!! I'm sorry I sounded like an overprotective parent throughout this entire thing, but it's just because I love you all and I want your heart to truly be as happy as you look in the pictures you take.

Thanks for reading! See ya later! <3
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