Social networks and your self-image

A little foretaste for you:

• Information on the risk potential of social media

• Instructions on how to recognize the warning signs in good time when it comes to the negative influence of social media

• Tips on how to protect yourself through “selective detox”.

Why is this a GooodTopic for you?

Do you know that? Are you at home on the couch in the evening and have you already watched all the series and films on Netflix? You’re scrolling through the media libraries but can’t find an entertaining movie that you’d like to watch. You also don’t feel like reading or talking to others. You are bored.

In this bored situation, you grab your phone and open one social media app after another. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Co. have long since become a practical pastime for many people. Social media consumption has grown exponentially, especially during the lockdown of the pandemic, when many people have lost their usual routines, distractions and plans for the future.

Many popular social media platforms allow us to anonymously watch, comment and follow other people’s lives without having to get off the couch. This sometimes has fatal consequences for our own self-image.

A long-term study by the University of Montreal with around 4,000 teenagers over four years came to the conclusion that the more time the subjects spent on social media, the more severe depressive symptoms they developed. We want to protect you from this. That’s why we founded GoodLife.

What exactly is happening here?

Through social media, we see flawless bodies, heavenly vacation destinations, highly romantic partnerships and wild adventures with best friends every day. In short: day and night we are confronted with a look and a lifestyle that is unattainable for us.

The consequence? Scrolling through posts daily makes us feel inferior and unattractive. Our life feels boring and unspectacular. Many of the posts that we see are staged and concealed. They do not correspond to the reality of life of the people shown.

You may also recognize these warning signs:

The negative effect on our self-confidence is reinforced by the numerous interaction mechanisms: Likes, followers and comments have now become important currency for many people’s self-esteem. If we don’t get enough of it from our point of view, we feel unpopular and maybe even humiliated.

• Do you feel the pressure of constantly looking at your smartphone and checking your social channels?
• Do you get nervous and tense as soon as you are offline for several times?
• When working, reading and eating, is your smartphone your daily companion and is it costing you productivity and focus?

With our smartphones, we always carry social media with us. Whether in waiting situations, before falling asleep or after getting up. Social media captivates us and makes us scroll endlessly. In many situations, this means that we cannot be fully present in the here and now.

This can lead to serious problems such as insomnia, restlessness and even depression. This turns the regular use of social media from a nice pastime into a real stress factor.

What is the good news for you?

A complete renunciation of social media (social media detox), i.e. switching off from the environment, sounds uncomplicated and simple, but does not correspond to our human nature. We need the interactions with other people.

Above all, we need real interactions with people. Meaningful interactions that enhance our positive feelings, enrich our lives and alleviate our suffering.

A conscious, selective renunciation (selective detox) is better than completely pausing from all social media. At least in Facebook there is the possibility to favorite certain friends and their posts from our network, while all others are paused for 30 days. So you can choose the friends who are good for you and motivate you, while those who are not good for you disappear from your everyday life.