It’s mental health awareness week and it’s been a while since I updated on my progress.

It’s a month today since I was last on twitter and it has probably been one of the best decisions I ever made.

Often at times we become so consumed with social media that our minds become clouded. What we see is not often what is real.

Throughout the pandemic social media and digital has been somewhat a saviour for many of us. It enabled us to stay connnected to our loved ones and interact with our peers, community etc.

Social media has its positives and negatives. On one hand from a business perspective, it provides us with endless opportunities to engage with celebrities, athletes and brands. It is also incredibly beneficial for self-promotion and brand awareness.

For the more generic person, it is a way of connecting with our favourite celebrity or athlete. It is also another avenue of meeting people in a digital space which can lead to great relationships.

The downside to social media. I’m putting more emphasis on twitter, which is often dubbed toxic twitter.

The platform itself has been known in the past to not do enough to stop online abuse. Although we have seen some changes over the years, it is still simply not enough to combat these on going issues. Tougher punishments should be put in place to ensure that people that think it’s okay to abuse someone for whatever reason should then be punished accordingly. It is almost like twitter likes the attention. More enagagement, more click-bait and more eyes on the platform, which they see as a positive but in hindsight it will eventually come back to bite them.

I didn’t come off twitter because I was abused or targeted. I took myself out of that toxic and at times fake environment because I found it more of a hindrance. I wanted to starve myself of any negative distractions. I had also become a tad fed up with people showing love and support for others that to be brutally honest don’t deserve the attention. And this is another issue. We have become so obsessed with these platforms we then start to believe that some of these people sharing their professional and personal lives are living ‘their best lives’. It’s human nature to compare your life with others. What we don’t realise is before you know it we are becoming obsessed by how the other person lives and in the long run that leads to negative thoughts and often damaging on our own mental health.

Most people don’t post or tweet who they are. It is what they want you to think. We are living in an era where we have lost sight of human interaction and living in the real world. We think social media is the real world.

Coming off twitter has uplifted me to a level where I’m so focused on my personal and professional goals. I spend more time talking to people on the phone. My friends no longer moan when I check my twitter, they have my full attention. Although I’m still on instagram, I still feel more motivated to actually get things done.

Social media and damaging consequences on our own mental health is something that needs to be explored more deeply. It causes arguments, break-downs of relationships and often makes people feel insecure on their appearances and lifestyle. There needs to be more education and support for charities and foundations that are trying to help people deal with these issues.

The platforms themselves have a big responsibility. Less talking and more action is needed.

Written By Sonia Randev