How to get over social media envy and stop comparing yourself to others

How to stop comparing yourself to others

Social media envy is a trap that is easy to fall into. Keep reading for some ideas on how to combat it and learn how to stop comparing yourself to others.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self

-Hemingway

Your finger grazes the glowing screen of your phone and the tiles shoot upwards, until you place your finger back down on the next item on the news feed.

She said yes!!! *huge close-up of engagement ring

Oh that’s nice, good for them. Next.

Cat makes an unlikely friend (warning: TOTALLY ADORABLE) *viral video of a cat and a baby goat huddling together for warmth.

Aww, that’s adorable. Next.

 

*Article from biased news source. Political battle occurs below in comments, each side providing equally-biased and paragraph-long rebuttals to each others’ comebacks.

Sheesh, give me a break. Do something constructive with your time, you think.   

 

We live in a time where if you’re by yourself in public, it’s almost weird if you’re not checking your phone for the latest social media updates.

 

Everyone has different reasons for using social media. When used the wrong way, it can be hard to stop comparing yourself to others, which can be incredibly damaging to your personal identity and self-esteem.

 

People are starting to realize that social media is not only used for connecting with your circle, but for comparing yourself to others. It can give people a false sense of being a part of something bigger, and create a gap between your ideal social life and reality.

 

This is not an article meant to bash social media, but rather how to use it in a way that keeps you sane and keeps you from feeling lonely.

Want to learn how to stop comparing yourself to others? Here are a few ideas that will help you not feel like crap when you look at social media.

 

Shows the bright side

 

One of the biggest arguments from haters of social media is that it only shows the “highlight reel” of people’s lives, as opposed to the “bloopers.” We all hand-pick what events, places, and activities we want to document on social media, and by doing so, we can create a false sense of what our daily life is like.

 

When you see that engagement ring your friend just received, you don’t realize that maybe she’s been having second thoughts about being with that guy. Maybe the guy just drained his whole bank account on the ring and isn’t left with much money to support them. Maybe they’re struggling with substance issues or other strained relationships.

 

Your brain takes shortcuts and makes quick assumptions because of the massive amount of data it has to sort through each and every day. We take in so much information on a daily basis, it’s hard to think through each and every piece of information to get the full picture, so we tend to assume that when something is going well in their life that their ENTIRE life is the same way.

 

We all know what happens to people who ASSume things