What role does social media play in amplifying peer pressure?

It's important to remember how social media interacts with our normal human tendencies - we tend to compare, we tend to want things we don't currently have and look forward the next thing without being present and acknowledging what we do have. Comparisons helps us understand our physical traits, behaviours and social structures, and is a normal part of being human and how we understand ourself in the world. Due to its design, social media amplifies success, glamour, and content that focuses on visually appealing and successful events and items, promoting in individualistic culture that puts everyone in competition with everyone else. It's so important to acknowledge this, even taking a time out from social media, to focus on the present.

Curated Perfection: Seeing friends' seemingly perfect lives online can lead to feelings of inadequacy and pressure to conform. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out): Constant updates about exciting activities can make others feel left out and pressured to participate. Social Proof: Large numbers of likes or followers can endorse certain behaviors, making them seem more desirable. Echo Chambers: Algorithmic filters can create bubbles where users only see opinions they agree with, intensifying groupthink. Social media can be a breeding ground for comparison and pressure to fit in.

It's important to remember the practicalities of meaningful relationships here. Research suggests that there is a sweet spot of 3-5 close friends for maximising life satisfaction and emotional support; and theories that suggest around 150 meaningful relationships that a person can maintain (close, family, acquaintance etc), which will vary from person to person. Other research has shown that there can be a social overload from too many Facebook friends and a weak link between number of online connections and well-being. You simply can't be in everyone's group. So, who are you keeping up with online, why are you keeping up with them? Perhaps take a step back, decide which are the meaningful interactions to foster online and with whom?

Take a step back; remember comparison is in the human nature. Social media amplifies and exacerbates this natural process. Before social media, people were comparing themselves to their local communities; now we are comparing ourselves with the person on the other side of the world. The comparison trap can be a spiral, so it's really important to link back into your support network, remember the things you enjoy day to day and practice gratitude.

A useful tool to help with digital wellbeing is to think about yourself as a digital citizen. As we grow through childhood, we are taught how to interact in our physical communities, given the tools and the information and social rules. How does this translate over into the digital world? Do we need to give ourselves a digital citizen crash course of how to interact online? A powerful example: lots of people gamble, but we also know the financial and addictive risks of this behaviour. Therefore, lots of us would prefer not so spent three hours mindlessly gambling. So why spent three hours on social media, mindlessly scrolling our time away and gambling with our mental health?