In 2014, there was brilliant insurance ad featuring three old women. One of them went on vacation and stuck vacation photos on his living room wall. One friend admired the photos while another had a confused look on her face.
The elderly traveler thought he was doing Facebook by posting photos and getting friend reactions. After a brief argument with the confused friend, he stated, I’m not friends with you! The irritated, confused woman finally stood up and said, That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works!
While messages about auto insurance are meaningless and quickly forgotten, messages about social media have continued to resonate throughout the years. I believe the confused friend is wrong. That’s how it works, or at least, how it works. If we can externalize social media in that way, we’ll more clearly see the potential pitfalls of doing it the way we’re used to it.
Sometimes, unfriending and unfollowing is the best thing you can do. Too much social media can have a negative impact on a person’s mental state. It can even cause death. Here are some reasons why you might want to take a second look stop following knob:
Depression and Anxiety
At its most basic level, social media is the medium that brings out the worst and worst news about humanity. There are consequences for getting yourself on a fixed diet. Depression and anxiety are often gateways to other conditions such as drug and alcohol dependence.
That Palm Beach rehabilitation center is one of the West Coast facilities that specializes in treating depression and anxiety, especially those related to drug and alcohol dependence.
Research has established a relationship between anxiety and social media. This is not just the result of depressing news and pictures. It can also be from excessive happy and positive images. It makes it appear that everyone has a better life and an easier time than you.
Part of the solution is to withdraw from social media and regain a better perspective on what’s really going on in the world. If you’re experiencing symptoms of depression, the unfriend button may be your best friend.
Overloaded Friends
There is a strong possibility that you are spreading yourself too thin. If you don’t have time for friends, family, special events, and other important relationships, you may be trying too hard to please too many people.
We already know about Dunbar’s number for several times. This suggests that we are limited to about 150 meaningful relationships. More recently, however, Dunbar has broadened his research to include the quality of the association. Your inner circle can’t be more than 5.
Pew Research reveals the average Facebook friends list is 338 people. Even for casual relationships, it’s too much. Younger people have friend lists exceeding 500. Dunbar suggests that our brain size is a limiting factor for accommodating that number of friends. Trying to maintain too many friendships can lead to social breakdown.
Fake news
Lately, fake news has made headlines. One of the biggest vectors for fake news is social media. Some put the average number of Twitter followers per user at 208. Dunbar’s figure suggests we should have far less.
By cutting the fat from our social media, we will reduce the chances of our feed being filled with fake news. Assuming your real friends aren’t some fool spreading fake news, you’ll benefit immediately by limiting your feed to real friends and people you know enough to respect.
Social media is a fact of life. Whether it’s a vacation photo on your living room wall, or a comment from a stranger somewhere on the interweb, we’re all about participating on social media.
But we have to learn when to pull the plug, unfriend, and unfollow. Depression and anxiety are all too real. Our lizard brain is too small. And our ability to sort fact from fiction is too weak to let our friends and following numbers rise above our ability to handle them.
