Social media
Social media are so useful...
What are social media good for? Lots of things! Here are some of the benefits social media provide:
- Staying in contact with friends at all times
- Learning to express your opinion respectfully
- Developing technical skills by using the tools available on these sites
- Getting news from friends you don’t see so often
- Learning about your friends’ discoveries and sharing yours with them
- Developing your judgment by learning how to decide what should be posted and what shouldn’t be, among other things
- Raising your profile
- Bringing people together
Life is fabulous… oh yeah?
Rose-coloured glasses
Social media present a distorted, overly positive vision of people and their lives. And when we compare ourselves, we get depressed!
Everything always has to be wonderful!
We can feel pressure to post often and only post positive things. Time to calm down!
The challenge: Being honest!
When you remain authentic on social media, it takes the pressure off everyone, including you!
Frequently asked questions
Here are some hints that suggest that social media are taking up too much of your life:
• You check your news feeds several times a day and get stressed out when you can’t do it
• You have a feeling you’ve ruined or missed time with your family and friends because you were on social media
• You’ve had problems at school because of social media
• You compare yourself to what you see on social media
• You’ve been known to delete a post that didn’t get enough likes
• You feel that you’re different online from in real life
Does that look like you? If yes, try to take breaks and spend less time on social media. If you’re feeling distress or stress, look for support from a counsellor at your school or Tel-jeunes.
There are many reasons why someone might unfriend us.
For example, we might unfriend a person because we’re bothered by what he/she posts. Could that be the case here? Are you posting too much personal information? Do you rant about sensitive topics? Do you regularly share your game scores? People don’t all have the same interests.
You might also reconsider your bond with the other person: are you really all that close? Is this someone you chat with regularly? Sometimes people just decide to pare down their contact lists and they simply remove people they don’t see very often.
If you aren’t close to the person, don’t feel personally targeted – just move on. If it’s a good friend and you’re worried, however, you can talk to him/her to find out what’s going on.