Bad Social Media Habits You Need to Stop

Bad Social Media Habits You Need to Stop

I remember the good ol’ days before social media: your heart racing as you receive that message from your crush on AIM, blogging about your bad day on Xanga, and posting on AOL music chat boards to discuss your favorite music artists.

Then MySpace came around and it seemed innocent enough-until it became spammy and everyone jumped on the Facebook bandwagon.

Fast-forward to the present and social media has completely changed the face of society (literally) with newer platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.

Women won’t post photos of themselves that aren’t filtered or airbrushed.

Opinionated people with no self-control waste hours of their day in heated political debates via the comment section of someone’s Facebook post, eventually un-friending (or blocking) anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

And if it’s not documented on Instagram, did it even really happen?

While there are some great benefits to social media, such as the ability to easily stay in touch with long-distance family and friends or sharing an encouraging thought, it has also spawned many internal and interpersonal problems.

Problems I believe are preventing us from reaching our full potential.

The more time I’ve spent studying personal development, the more I’ve come to distance myself from social media and have become more mindful of the things I share on its platforms.

It is so easy for me to spot someone who has a deeper problem beneath the surface, based on what they’re sharing on social media.

One of my favorite personal development speakers and authors is John Maxwell, and he’s known for stating that he would be able to determine how successful you will become simply by observing you for a 24-hour period.

Well, here’s my claim: I can figure out where you’re at in your life and where you’re headed based on what you’re sharing on social media.

Chances are, others can, too.

Let’s talk bad social media habits you need to stop.

Bad Social Media Habits You Need to Stop

Attention-Seeking Posts

99.9% of posts on social media are for attention, period.

Even if you don’t realize it.

Whether you want to admit it or not.

When you post anything, you draw attention to yourself.

The question is, what kind of attention are you attracting?

Are you attracting attention in a positive way?

Or are you posting vague details alluding that something negative has happened so people will message you, asking what’s going on (using negativity to seek attention)?

If someone said something bad about you behind your back (welcome to adulthood!) are you complaining about it like a high-school student, or do you brush it off and carry on about your day without feeling the need to publicly document it?

Are you posting your dirty laundry for all to see, or are you working on your issues behind-the-scenes?

Check your intentions at the door before you hit the “post” button.

Sharing drama is not going to make you feel better and it’s not going to solve your problems.

When I see these types of posts, I can tell the author of the posts in question has insecurities that need to be dealt with.

They are sharing with the intention of getting sympathy from others through negative attention.

Garnering attention from negative experiences on social media is not going to fill the void where your insecurities are concerned.

Don’t look to social media for attention.

The best thing you can do for yourself is figure out what the root cause of the problem is and intentionally resolve to fix it-offline.

Your well-being and future will thank you for it.

Related:

Using Social Media as Your Diary

Say it with me now:

Facebook is not your diary.

It’s okay for you to make it through a single day without documenting your life in some way.

You don’t need to share your every little thought with the world.

There is something to be said for keeping aspects of your life private.

Life still happened even though it wasn’t in your Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook story.

…even though you didn’t take a selfie.

…despite not checking in at the place you were at.

You don’t need social media to legitimize your life.

I don’t know about you, but I’m 39 years old, and I very clearly remember life before checking in everywhere I went, selfies, and Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook stories.

Quite frankly, life was much simpler and peaceful then.

Unless I’m on vacation or at a really cool place worth seeing pop up on my memories in the years to come, I don’t take the time or energy to check in to places.

Long story short: some things are worth documenting and some normal, routine things don’t need to be documented to be legitimized.

Learn to not post your every thought and whereabouts on social media.

In the long run, does it really matter?

Will it matter 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now?

Focus on living your life.

You can’t enjoy the moment if you’re caught up in constantly documenting every little thing.

Related:

Abusing Airbrush and Filters

Ever since Snapchat created filters, the obsession with filters and airbrushing has gotten out of control.

Airbrushing and photoshop became an issue long before the Snapchat filters were introduced, but altering one’s photos to represent themselves as someone who doesn’t even look remotely like their true self has become an epidemic.

It is easy to tell when women abuse filters and airbrushing when you see them upload a new profile picture and think, “that doesn’t even look like her.”

If this is you, I encourage you to think about why it is you must resort to posting doctored photos.

Why are you afraid to show your true self?

Don’t get me wrong-I love using the Snapchat filters on occasion-they’re fun (and funny) and I’m not against sharing these photos. It becomes a problem when there is a reliance on doctored photos due to an insecurity one has with themselves.

Because then not only are you masking your natural appearance, you’re masking over the problem at its roots.

There’s a time and place for the Snapchat filters.

But why are you disguising your true self?

What is keeping you from being content in your own skin?

Because that’s the real problem behind doctored selfies.

Related:

Falling into the Comparison Trap

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

You wish you looked like that Instagram model (who most likely has airbrushed or filtered photos-see above).

Chances are, there’s someone looking at your Instagram profile or Facebook page wishing they had what you have.

The grass is always greener…

Be happy (and be proud!) of who you are and where you are at in your journey.

There’s only one you, and nobody can do it like you.

The only competition that should be occurring is the one you have with who you were yesterday vs. today.

It’s easy for your friend’s vacation photos from Italy to spark envy.

But that’s where you need to examine your own life, figure out what’s keeping you from what you truly want, and go after it.

Staring for hours watching other people’s lives isn’t going to make yours any better.

It’s just going to make you miserable.

You weren’t just dealt a hand of cards and stuck with them.

Anything you wish to do is entirely possible-but it’s up to you to make it happen.

Quit comparing and start doing.

Related:

Determining Your Worth with Likes and Follows

“She is more precious than rubies.” ~Proverbs 3:15

No amount of likes or follows is going to bring you peace or make you happy.

The approval of others will never take the place of the beliefs you have of yourself.

You can always tell when women need likes and follows to determine their self-worth.

They only post a specific type of photo-usually a selfie that is filtered with a flirty caption-and delete anything that isn’t getting them as much attention as they’d hoped.

Just because you have more followers and likes than someone else doesn’t make you superior.

I once heard that social media is like Monopoly money-it’s irrelevant.

Related:

Endless Scrolling

Why do you want to waste time preoccupying yourself with other people-watching them live their lives-when you could be living your own?

While you are blowing that one hour every morning scrolling Facebook, you could be exercising. You could be reading a book.

There are so many more productive things that would take you closer to your dream, if only you’d put the phone down.

When you’re on your deathbed, are you actually going to look back on your life and think, “I remember all those hours spent on my phone scrolling through Facebook-what great memories!”?

Nope, didn’t think so.

Related:

Entertaining Toxicity

Do you ever open your social media feed, and there’s Negative Nancy with her latest drama?

Keeping toxic or negative people on your friends list impacts you more than you realize.

I’m a big believer in removing anyone who is negative, dramatic, toxic, or nosy.

There are people I don’t mind in real life, but I can’t be Facebook friends with them.

I’m also a believer in not having 5,000 “friends” I don’t even talk to.

If I don’t have an active relationship of some sort with someone and I know I wouldn’t stop them on the street to say “hi,” I remove them.

I don’t mean anything bad by it and it doesn’t mean there’s hard feelings.

It simply means I don’t want that extra “noise” in my life when it already has enough of its own.

We all have “noise” and the more you can eliminate, the better.

Related:

Before You Go

Social media will keep you from becoming the person you have the potential to be if you engage in these bad habits.

Nip those bad habits in the bud.

Start today.

Don’t be controlled by social media any longer.

What struggles do you have with social media?

How can I help?

Let me know in the comments below.

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Lisa

Hi! I'm Lisa. I help women live purposeful, fulfilling and joyful lives. I'm happily married and a fur mom to two boxers and two rabbits. I love Jesus, freelance writing, fitness, personal development, reading books, football, cross-stitching, and video games.

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Kristin

August 8, 2019 8:25 pm

So good! I’ve definitely noticed a shift in my social media habits over the last few years – more often now, it feels like I’m wasting time when I start scrolling. I still catch myself doing it sometimes, but it really helps to be aware of the bad habit. Now I can do something about it. Love your posts, Lisa!