Recently I had a little break from social media. Well Instagram and Facebook and anyway.

I was using them too much and I concluded that it wasn’t very healthy. I noticed that apart from the obvious unnecessary time consumption they were also making me quite vain. Or were bringing out the vain side of me. I’m still not quite sure if Instagram made me like that or I was already like that.The 21st century chicken and egg conundrum perhaps! A break away, too many “babe, you ok” WhatsApp messages later, I was back, but this time I had changed. I am trying (the operative word being trying) to use social media more responsibly from now on because for something that is just a ‘bit of fun’, the negative impact to someone else and indeed to ourselves can be very real.

Our lives on social medical can become so fake that we now have to attach hashtags to show when something is real. You know the #nofilter or #nomakeup or #noediting. #Justsayin. There is nothing wrong with showing your best self, or best parts of your life, but something about the fakeness of it all irks me and no more so than when I feel like I am being a victim or perpetrator of it. Both of which I am gulity of. We all show our great meal, but not the pile of dishes we have to wash up. It’s a small example, but this sort of selective sharing, because let’s be honest, we are all hiding more than dirty dishes, must be having some sort of negative impact.

Hence my new resolve to only show that which serves some sort of purpose. For example, sharing a picture of me looking great will only inflate my ego (which I don’t want to do) or make someone else feel bad on some level because they may not be looking great at that moment (again I don’t want to do this). Like when you pick up Vogue on a Sunday when you’re looking a bit rough. Bad idea. But sharing a post about £1 lip sticks (you’re welcome ladies) might actually help someone. And that is something that I want to do. You might will definitely catch me slipping, or selfying (is this a word, and if it is, oh dear) but hopefully not for too long!

Have you ever thought about how you use social media?