Comparison-ites, The Instagram Disease 🦠
In a world where your avocado 🥑 toast must be perfectly photogenic and your vacations seem like they’re straight out of a travel magazine, there’s a disease 🦠 that is spreading faster than cat videos on Instagram and is very contagious! It’s called Comparison-itis; a selfie-induced epidemic where people start seeing their real lives in dull tones, only express themselves in emojis and rate their happiness by their Instagram engagement.
Haha ok let’s be real: while it is fun to peek into each other lives and scroll through our Instagram feed it can also cause anxiety and stress for many. When we compare our lives and careers to others daily we may experience feelings of inadequacy, dissatisfaction ☹️, jealousy and resentment.
I think that that the insecurities that we may have can easily get triggered by seeing others having, experiencing or achieving what we desire to have, experience or achieve . And even though we all know that most of what we see on Instagram is a curated version of reality. People tend to share their highlights, not their everyday struggles. Bu it does not stop us from comparing, right? 😉
If you are feeling down during or after scrolling on Instagram it is time to address and reduce the Comparison-ites symptoms and work on a healthier relationship with the platform. This can be achieved with the following 4 strategies:
Creating a healthier instagram experience.
1. 🧹 Clean up your Instagram feed. Be conscious of the content you consume. Regularly review who you're following. Follow accounts that inspire and educate and make you laugh rather than trigger feelings of inadequacy and jealousy. If an account consistently makes you feel bad about yourself, unfollow it.
I personally know that it’s time to unfollow someone when the energy I’m feeling from that person’s content is sticky- when it keep popping in my mind and it does not have a positive vibe or when I feel judgmental. I have cleaned up my feed many times and I will continue to do so. I’m now loving most of the content I see; entertaining stuff like cute dogs, water sports, athletes. I know that my feed is where it needs to be when I’m giggling and sharing posts to make others feel good as well.
2. 💛 Self-Love & Self-Compassion . Be your own best friend and remind yourself that you have come a long way and take some time to reflect on your own achievements and blessings.Gratitude can shift your focus on what you lack to what you have.
A mindset hack that I like to use when I feel jealousy is; I turn it around and say: how awesome is it for that person to experience (fill in the blank) in life or has that dream career- I want more of that in my life and this is great inspiration knowing that is out there and it can been achieved. What can I learn from this person? What action steps can I take to get a little closer to fulfill my own desire?
3. Engage Authentically Instead of just scrolling leave meaningful comments and focus on connecting with others. I always say “ a like may go unnoticed but a comment won’t”. The cool thing about Instagram is that you can be friends with people that you would not have have met or started a conversation with because you live in different places.
I have made good friends on Instagram and this summer I met three Instagram friends in Los Angeles, and it was so interesting that you feel like you’ve known each other for a while and have seen so much on IG of each others life, but in reality it’s just a glimpse- there is so much more to share. And by meeting up and hanging out you establish a deeper connection. I highly recommend it!
4 📵 Comparison-Free hours and Days. Designate day or parts of a day when you don't engage with Instagram at all. Use this time for other activities that bring you joy. It’s easy to get sucked into social media and not have time any more for the things you wanted to do. Set daily limits on your Instagram usage. The built-in “Time Spent” feature can help you stick to these limits.
I have set a 30 min limit daily to scroll and to be answering messages. I will spend more time online than 30 min but my rule is that It can only be on content creation, not consumption. This is how you set your daily limit:
How to set a daily usage limit for Instagram.
By implementing the above mentioned four strategies, you can reduce the negative effects of the comparing game on Instagram and make your time on the platform more enjoyable and mentally healthy.
If you have a friend who is suffering from comparison-ites please share this blog post or podcast episode with him/her. Stay inspired and stay connected! Shoot me a DM with any questions or feedback, I love hearing form you 😃 @_ModelsDoEat.
