Social Media and Christmas

The holiday season is upon us with all the cheer, love and hope it hopefully brings. Family, friends colleagues and strangers come together to enjoy and rejoice in the Christmas cheer.

This is no more visible then on social media networks with people snapping every happy memory with family, every alcohol filled night out with friends and every holiday snap for those lucky enough to hit the ski slopes of Europe or enjoy a hot winters getaway further afield.  According to a new study produced by the University of Copenhagen it seems that not everyone is rejoicing in the Christmas social media bubble. The study included more than 1000 individuals mainly women who said that looking through Facebook and other social media outlets at Christmas time made them feel ‘miserable’ and had negative connotations on their mental health and wellbeing. Christmas is unfortunately a time some individuals find themselves filled with sadness, loneliness or even loss. So what is it about social media that makes it so much harder?

This to me links in with a much larger picture of the clear effects that social media is having on all of our mental health not just at Christmas time but all year round. The infiltration of social media on big holidays such as Christmas inevitably makes people’s lives more visible; emphasising moments of happiness and joy for some and yet, leaving others feeling even lonelier or in certain cases envious of others and their array of holiday fun and happy life.

So what’s the answer to combat the pressures of social media at Christmas?

Firstly my personal belief is that the more time you spend glaring into the unforgiving cyber-space of social media the more inclined you are to assimilate these happy snapshots you observe as being a total representation of peoples’ happy lives. This invariably draws a comparison with your own experience leading to an often negative evaluation.

The study by the University of Copenhagen says that actually spending more time participating with the social media festive cheer and communicating with others can have a positive effect instead of looking over every holiday snap with envy.

Secondly, to me it seems that online some individuals feel it is important to push forward a perfected and edited image of them self. This can come in the form of an edited photo to a masterfully crafted period of time where they portray an overly exciting and busy life. This can leave others pining to achieve the same, leaving many dissatisfied with their self-confidence in tatters.

The burning question I have is when is anyone going to address the growing concerns of social media?

I must convey that for social media to become a positive and healthier environment for all we need to firstly look at ourselves and how we use social media at Christmas or any other time of the year. Once we have taken a look at how we use social media and have potentially made certain amendments to how we use it and having a more realistic interpretation of what is truly happening in peoples’ lives. Then we can gain a more educated picture of what social media truly means to us all.

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