It’s been a rough three years. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it’s felt like the importance of checking in on one’s mental health is more highlighted than ever. Being isolated for months on end began to wear down the mental wellbeing of even those who didn’t regularly experience issues with mental health. I personally didn’t realize how much social interaction impacted my wellbeing on a daily basis, which was surprising for someone who thought of themself as an introvert.
People tried any and every thing they could to keep themselves occupied, like pulling out old board games and puzzles or trying new recipes. However, deriving entertainment from our phones by scrolling through social media naturally became a more frequent occurrence. Social media can keep people occupied for hours on end, but the pandemic amplified using it to keep up with the people we couldn’t see on a daily basis anymore. The smallest amount of drama can suck you in. We’ve all seen a dramatic quote in an Instagram caption and wondered if that girl you had one class with freshman year of high school broke up with her boyfriend.
In contrast to playing detective for a little while, a downside to this aspect of social media is that it’s super simple to keep tabs on ex friends and partners. It’s easy enough to get jealous after seeing someone’s Snapchat story of their vacation in the Bahamas, but seeing someone who hurt you happy on social media brings out a rough combination of jealousy and sadness. No matter what cliches people tell you in an effort to help you move on, my biggest piece of advice is to unfollow people on social media and just stop caring.
Maybe it’s a little harsh but it really does wonders for one’s mental health. You don’t realize how much seeing people in your social media feeds affects you until they aren’t in it anymore and you realize why you’ve felt so much more at peace. It’s one thing if you reconcile with someone and you genuinely feel better off having them in your life, but if someone hurt you, I can assure you that removing them on social media and letting any and all thoughts of them go is the smallest form of karma they deserve; bonus points if you delete or block their phone number.
As someone with people pleasing tendencies, I will say that it takes some time to retrain your brain to throw out its habit of wondering what other people will think about you, but it’s so worth it. By no means do I stay away from the aforementioned drama of figuring out if a couple is still together based on their profiles, I just trust that other people will tell me about it. My best friend happily keeps up with all of our hometown drama via proposal videos on Facebook and plays detective on Instagram because it doesn’t negatively affect her in the same way it affects me. However, in between those debriefing sessions about people we graduated high school with, I am completely oblivious to everything I don’t want to hear about and it is so nice. It’s a much healthier balance and ensures my time and energy are spent on the people I genuinely want around. Care less so you can care more.
Tate Raub is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Tate know by tweeting her @tatertot1310.
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