Journal Entry by Jaren Dittman

30 April 2020

Social Media Sucks

Over the past 2 weeks, I have come to discover that social media sucks. The

unobtainable reality that is commonly portrayed on media outlets is extremely toxic to my

mental health. The overall negative feeling I get when I am scrolling through Instagram makes

me want to delete all of my social networking accounts. However, the feeling of receiving likes

and praise is too addicting to give up. Due to the circumstances that the COVID-19 disease has

put everyone in, it makes social media more and more appealing as there is not much else I can

do. It is annoying that I cannot directly interact with my friends, but that is why I am not

completely against using interactive service. Social media helps me stay connected to my

friends and family as I cannot physically see them for the time being. Nevertheless, I am

becoming to reliant on my phone and multimedia websites. I have become lazy and have begun

to distant myself from my family. The longer I remain on my phone, the more difficult it is to

put it down. I waste hours upon hours just aimlessly scrolling through my phone, and as a result,

I lose half of the day that I could have spent with my family. It has gotten to the point that I

barely leave my room. I am trying to get better at being more aware of what I am doing to

myself, but it is challenging. Once you fall into a TikTok montage, it is almost impossible to

escape. The reality is that social media is a toxic application that has made me extremely

unhealthy and distant from everyone. While it may keep me somewhat connected to my friends,

it has caused me to ignore my family and that is not okay. Social media is like a drug and once

you become addicted, you cannot escape it. I have thought about getting rid of my phone, but I

rely on it too much.