Social Media Will Stunt Your Emotional Growth

Take it from me, a social media

I’ve noticed a pattern that occurs pretty regularly in the social media circles that I travel. A person will post about a painful situation they are in, usually as a result of someone being a jerk. A bunch of people come to their support. The post does numbers. Consciously or subconsciously, they pick up that there is power that comes from grievance, that they can get support from strangers on the internet through their presentation of their side of the story, and they become addicted to sympathy. Soon, every post is a story of someone wronging them, they marshal brigades to pursue those who have wronged them, and soon they’ve surrounded themselves with people who encourage this kind of behavior, who quickly come whenever this person has had a negative interaction to tell them how valid and wonderful they are. And you watch as a person who used to inhabit a broad spectrum of emotions becomes someone who only posts about being wronged. I’ve seen it happen multiple times. Including to myself.