Teach your children not to be envious of what they see on Instagram
Instagram can make children and teenagers envious of other people’s lives … How can you fix this?
On Instagram, people only publish what they want to teach others, it is how the beautiful part of their lives … what they want others to believe that they live, even if it is not always in line with reality. Children and adolescents do not always understand this and may feel envy when they see the publications of friends or acquaintances … Many adolescents can have depression and loneliness after watching this social network … because they use it a lot every day!
Index
SOCIAL MEDIA DEPRESS
The unhappiness people feel when spending time on social media is largely related to social comparison. When you look at other people’s lives, especially on Instagram, it ‘s easy to conclude that everyone else’s life is colder or better than yours . This is because, according to social comparison theory, people base their worth on how they compare to others. This need to compare dates back long before social media existed. Long ago, it was key to survival: Humans needed to quickly measure the strengths of their rivals and assess threats. These days, instead of weighing others as competition for food and resources, people measure attractiveness, success, intelligence and the convenience of each to see where they are located.
Since the comparison is scheduled, there is no easy way to avoid it entirely. Unless they get off the beaten track, a total network detox can be highly unlikely. It is important that children and adolescents learn not to fall into the trap of comparison. How?
THAT YOUR CHILDREN LEARN NOT TO FEEL ENVY ON INSTAGRAM
Identify the values of social media
The first step to staying sane on social media is knowing what makes you nervous. When on the go, do specific types of posts or certain people always make you feel inadequate or depressed ? Ideally, to identify it is to do a personal experiment: keep a record of the use and mood caused by social networks, taking into account feelings of self-esteem. Do that about 8 or 10 times a day.
Given our celebrity-obsessed culture, you might guess that comparisons to favorite stars , with their sparkling brilliance, rock-hard bodies, and lavish jewelry, are the most “annoying.” Although that’s not always the case … Comparisons tend to be stronger when looking at people who are similar to us.
It is possible that people covet another person’s life more if it seems that it is possible, as if with other decisions you could have lived those moments too. This can make children sad , thinking that other people’s lives are better than their own.
Practice mindfulness
Once your children have identified that social media can make them feel envious and inadequate, they should practice mindfulness to learn to put things in perspective and to be able to counteract (with your help) the negative effects of social media. .
With practice, they can learn to watch these emotions carefully without getting lost or trapped in them. How can they do it? To begin with, they should not resist or avoid uncomfortable feelings … it is necessary to pay attention to how envy feels in the body, does the belly hurt? Is your jaw clenched? In addition to learning the physical signals, you have to learn the thoughts … What does your inner voice say? You must recognize these thoughts from a distance as a non-judgmental bystander.
Once your kids recognize their reflex responses – that is, the negative thoughts and feelings that pop up in their head as they look at social media – they can break that unconscious cycle to feel better. Instead of passively experiencing a sense of envy on autopilot, you can make a conscious decision to disengage from it. You will have to take a deep breath and say, “I acknowledge this envy (inhale); I release this envy (exhale).”
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.