Most of us open social media without thinking, but we don’t realize how much it quietly affects the way we see ourselves. What starts as a simple scroll often turns into comparing our life, our looks and even our achievements with people we don’t even know. I’ve noticed that even on days when I feel okay, a few minutes online can suddenly make me feel like I’m behind everyone else and this isn’t just my experience, there has been a study done by the university of Pennsylvaia, where they found that people who use social media for long periods feel more anxious and lonely, even if they don’t admit it.
The problem is that everything online looks perfect: perfect bodies, perfect routines, perfect relationships and perfect success stories, and when we see that every day, our brain starts believing that our real life isn’t “good enough.” Psychologists call this the “social comparison effect,” where we measure our worth based on others and it slowly lowers our confidence without us even noticing. Social media also tricks us into thinking that likes and comments define our value and when we don’t get enough of them, we feel ignored, even though they are just numbers on a screen.
What makes this worse is how filtered everything is, photos are edited, moments are staged and even captions are planned, yet we compare all of that to our real, unfiltered life. It’s almost unfair to ourselves. At the same time, completely avoiding social media isn’t realistic, especially for young people, but understanding its impact helps us protect our self-esteem. When we remind ourselves that people show only their best moments online and hide their struggles, the pressure becomes lighter. And when we take a break, even a small one, our mind feels clearer and more grounded. In the end, social media itself isn’t the villain, it’s the way it slowly convinces us to see ourselves through someone else’s highlight reel. The more we recognise this, the easier it becomes to stay confident in who we are beyond the screen.