What a great concept social media is! Social media encompasses various aspects of our lives, and the internet makes it very convenient to get through this life thing with life hacks, influencing and altering our perspective of the world.

However, teenagers and young adults need to prioritise themselves over worshipping their screens. The question remains: “Everything is digital, how can we not be on our phones?”

While social media shrinks the globe, helps us keep up with family and friends, keeps us informed about global events, and access knowledgeable information, it also has a negative impact. With gullibility and peer pressure in the youth, unrealistic beauty standards, unrealistic luxurious lives, and trends can leave them vulnerable, overwhelmed, and low self-esteem. There are stats on teenagers dealing with anxiety and depression with the growing use of social media.

About 45,34% million people use the internet and 26 million use social media in South Africa alone. South Africans are some of the most active social media users in the world. In 2023, 200,000 new users joined social media, shooting the total average of users to 26 million. With the total user base increasing, we need to be more mindful of how we consume media.

We sometimes need to understand that people allow media consumers to see a glimpse of their lives and for the most part- only the good part of everything, never the downside. Now, they post to inspire and influence. The delivery can be innocent, however, sometimes various feelings rather than the ones of inspiration and influence get in the way of the receiving end.

Mental health matters and sometimes we are not conscious of the impact certain representations have on our development, finding ourselves, and building our identities. It is crucial to know oneself outside the borders of the small screens we find ourselves addicted to.

I have spent a good two years without Instagram and learnt how to manoeuvre through it without the pressure from my peers. It felt amazing creating my reality without online pressure.

Here are tips on how to have a good relationship with social media and to let the indulgence be of positivity, inspiration, education, and for the most part, social media to not be a driving tool for negative emotions, depression, and anxiety:

Tip #1: Go outside. The saying ‘go outside and touch some grass’ really stems from somewhere. People have been constantly trying to break the cycle of continuous overconsumption of the same thing every day. Taking a walk, aside from helping to burn a few calories, really does something to the mental state. You get to have a monologue with yourself and try to deeply connect and declutter your head from things that do not nourish you.

Tip #2: Consume for inspiration, not perfection. Do not try to be like somebody else or whatever you see on social media. The most you ought to do when you are inspired is to incorporate it into your own body of work – your identity. Perfection is a subjective concept, and if we are constantly chasing it, then it means we are not content with ourselves.

Tip #3: Take a break. The deactivation button is there for a reason. When feeling overwhelmed and scrolling through the socials does not bring joy or entertainment to you anymore, it is totally okay to take a step back from everything and breathe. Deactivate or just avoid engaging with the media for a month or so. This way you will come back having built a healthier relationship with social media and knowing your space in the world of social. Challenge yourself and read a book for that month.

Tip #4: ‘Be where your feet are’.This phrase moves a lot of people. It reminds us that we are not behind in anything, and everyone’s journey is different. If you see a post that does not resonate with you, makes you question your worth, and makes you feel insecure about certain aspects of your life, remember that you do not know the full story behind someone’s success. Clap for others and move on.

Tip #5: Be intentional. Know why you engage with specific content. It could be for educational purposes, strictly entertainment, or to just simply have a laugh. It never really has to be about competition or pressure. Certain standards set out in the media are sometimes unrealistic, and comparing your life and how you do things to those standards will never make you feel fulfilled.

To have a healthy relationship with yourself and the media is to prioritise yourself more. Find joy in the little things- reading a book, a sentimental conversation and watching TV ( a lost art in the evolved digital world). Life is what we make it, and we should choose the beautiful side of it. Take it easy, know yourself, and be where your feet are. When in doubt and when you feel some type of way when indulging in content, ask yourself: ‘Is it worth it?’

Nounouche Contributor: Kamogelo Mathebula