It’s no secret we are living in the era of social networking and instant messages. Of course, there are pros and cons to this — like everything else in life — but one of the latter is the impact these outlets have on young adults’ mental health.

As a millennial, I am guilty of spending hours on my phone just scrolling through pictures, beating myself up for not having certain things figured out like “the rest of the world” or for not looking a specific way. At some point, it felt as though my time wasn’t mine — it belonged to work, school, family, friends, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter … you may think the last five aren’t important but I felt like I HAD to dedicate at least an hour to each platform a day. You do the math!

I started falling into this culture of comparison, and I couldn’t figure out why I was so angry all the time. I don’t know how or when, but I realized I was happier living other people’s lives through a screen than my own. I pondered the idea of deleting all my accounts; but if there is one thing I have learned when it comes to personal growth and development, it is getting rid of the problem isn’t going to fix a situation. In this case, it was all about how to go on with my daily routines in spite of the problem being around me.

Detaching myself from these outlets has been an interesting journey. It took a while for me to stop thinking people were sending me subliminal messages in their posts and to stop measuring the strength of my relationships based on the amount of texts I sent and received. Eventually, I started using these outlets as a vehicle to spread awareness and educate those who, like me, didn’t know better.

The amount of pressure one feels to meet the standards of these communities is immense! You start thinking you’re worth the amount of likes you get on your pictures or that if no one is reading your comments or watching your stories you’re not relevant enough. The negativity you can receive from total strangers is mind blowing and could easily take a toll on the strongest person.

This week is National Suicide Prevention Week, and thousands of users on Instagram have taken the opportunity to spread awareness on this topic. Some accounts stress the importance of checking on our loved ones. A call, a text, a tweet or mention aren’t enough; anyone could lie and say they’re okay when they’re not. Think about it, when was the last time you did so yourself?

We all fight our own battles each day, having someone that loves us for who we are makes them worth fighting. Letting our loved ones know why and how much we love them is crucial.

I invite you all to understand that distancing ourselves from our phones, computers and iPads is not isolation. I know it’s 2018, but we are more than words on a screen!

— Yasser Ogando, sales planner