As he sits alone in his small, dimly-lit apartment, surrounded by the deafening silence and feeling the weight of loneliness, he can’t help but wonder if this is all there is to life.
He wakes up every morning to a job he despises, with colleagues who don’t understand him, and no romantic partner to share his life with.
His high school friends, with whom he once shared everything, are now distant memories that only live on in his social media feed.
Even his parents, who live in a distant city, seem too far away to help him with his struggles.
It’s a scenario that many young adults find themselves in today, and unfortunately, for some, it can lead to a dangerous path of mental depression and even suicide.
No doubt, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24.
But it was not always like this, so what happened? Why is this generation suffering?
Every generation has a fair share of struggles. Our parents’ struggles were different from ours.
Back in the day, they faced extreme hardship in making ends meet. Finding a job at the age of 23 or 24 was considered a feat.
However, things have changed drastically, and we are witnessing a new era where even 6-year-old YouTubers are rolling in the dough.
Broadly speaking too, our generation is overall much financially well off than baby boomers or gen X.
While it came as a surprise to my parents that I landed myself a well-paying job in finance right out of undergrad (not that they doubted me :P), only I could see my competition bagging even higher packages.
But this doesn’t mean shit.
We may be witnessing coin-clinking success but are mentally in a meltdown.
We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives.
Tyler Durden – Fight Club
And there is only one thing to blame – SOCIAL MEDIA
The root of all evils
As much as I stand to benefit from this fortune-finding playground, social media is sucking the life out of every young adult out there who is not using it correctly.
Social media may have connected us to the world, but it disconnected us from ourselves, leaving us with more likes and less love.
The reason it is able to successfully f*ck us up, is the same we all love it. Connectivity.
It connects you with people half way across the world.
Now that I put on my thinking cap, I believe we were better off living in our own bubble of a world, where all that mattered to us was things and people in our vicinity.
This hyper connected world is a dreamplace for a self-absorbed egoist who can gather all the eyeballs he wants on him.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Theodore Roosevelt
Scrolling through endless feeds of perfectly edited images of botox filled models and debt fuelled extravagent lifestyles can leave us feeling inadequate and unfulfilled.
It is not just Instagram, but even LinkedIn is filled with misleading office ninjas.
We forget that social media is a highlight reel, and what we see isn’t always the full story.
But nobody cares and everybody is laboring to one-up the other.
Vanity at its peak.
The constant pressure to be perfect, to have the perfect life, is taking a toll on everyone’s mental health.
We are living in a world where FOMO is real, and everyone’s trying to keep up with the Patels.
Not only this, but social media also remains a leading cause of loniless among masses.
Despite the illusion of being constantly connected, people may still feel isolated and disconnected from real-life relationships.
This is a reason that it is believed that over 40% of us will feel the aching pangs of loneliness at some point in our lives.
In fact, a study found that people who spent more than two hours per day on social media were twice as likely to feel lonely than those who spent less than half an hour.
We need to act now!
The solution to any problem is simple.
Accept the problem -> Identify the root cause -> Eliminate it
We first have to accept that we are mentally unhealthy and then come with terms to the fact that social media is hazardous to our health.
All that is now left is eliminating it from our lives – which (I won’t lie) is very difficult to act on!
Even if you are not addicited to the habit of mindless scrolling your TikToks, IG Reels or YT Shorts, you would still internally climb a mountain of resistance to uninstall the app because of social pressure.
Social media is like the clingy friend who won’t take a hint and constantly demands your attention. You may feel like you’re held hostage by the pressure to keep up your online facade, all while trying to avoid being labeled as a digital hermit.
I too had such thoughts.
But let me tell you, it was all in my noggin!
When I nuked my Instagram account, I was sweating bullets about losing touch with my squad.
However, much to my surprise, my inner circle found a way to slide into my DMs on WhatsApp, even if they never had my digits before.
Their efforts to stay connected were a testament to our bond, and it became clear that these were the ride-or-die homies I needed in my life.
It was like a filter, separating the real ones from the meme-sharing phonies.
Would you rather have 3 trusted friends or 1000 acquaintances?
In a nutshell, take care of your mind like you take care of your phone: charge it daily (meditation), remove unnecessary apps (social media), and don’t be afraid to restart it when (seek therapy) needed.
Remember, mental health is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
Leave a Reply