When you say the words, “Social Media Anxiety” out loud, it may sound kind of silly because after all – how can we take social media all that seriously? But it exists. I know because social media anxiety is exactly what happened to me yesterday morning when I was trying to promote a Yow Yow! post on Facebook. First I posted it. Four minutes later I took it down. Then I posted it to a friend’s wall and deleted it. And then I re-posted it to my own Facebook again. It was so ridiculous and I’ll admit I was a little bit embarrassed, but that is in fact what social media anxiety is at its finest. When you know that what you post will be seen by others that you are connected with, it’s hard NOT to feel self conscious. Is the status your posting witty enough? If it doesn’t have enough likes, is that a bad thing? Is my Instagram shot artsy enough? Will my tweet garner any re-tweets or replies?
The Today Show recently conducted a study in which they surveyed 7,000 American mothers and have discovered that 42% of them suffer from “Pinterest stress” – the worry that they are not crafty or creative enough. Yeah, that’s a real thing.
New York Magazine just wrote up an entertaining piece about the 6 Major Social Media Anxieties and it couldn’t be more spot-on. Check it out here.
