Like most things the dawn of the internet and social media is both a blessing and a curse. One one hand it’s undoubtedly one of the best ways to learn tips and tricks to meet personal goals. Want to learn how to change your car’s oil? Or maybe you want to learn how to make homemade pickles. Literally whatever you can think of, someone has written about it. The problem with this there will ALWAYS be something you don’t know how to do, something you’re not doing, or something that others think you should be doing better. Combine that with the monetization of products to do “xyz” better, the age of influencers, and social media feeds touting everything in the name of self improvement, that we as a culture have become OBSESSED with being better. Have we forgot about self acceptance? And honestly where should self improvement end and self acceptance begin? Obviously I’m not suggesting that you should give up trying to do something like quit smoking or adopt a healthy lifestyle in the name of self acceptance but it’s easy to understand how both ideologies both of these things can become warped and taken to unhealthy levels.

As you scroll through social media how many posts are you seeing that are providing unsolicited advice? Maybe the intentions of the poster are good, but when something like “why you should not give your kids time out” shows up, one cannot help but have a subsequent train of thoughts that trigger:

1: Self Doubt: “I just gave my daughter a time out last week, am I raising my child all wrong? Am I causing permanent damage?”

2. Shame: “I’m not equipped to be a good parent”

3. Confusion: “Then what do I do?”

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All of that just ensued because you were mindlessly scrolling through Instagram while you were waiting for the train like so many of us do. And this is just an example of ONE topic. Add in posts about new workouts, new diets, language courses, and god knows everything else you AREN’T doing and it’s easy to feel inferior, insufficient, and that you’re not doing “enough”.

Now don’t get me wrong. Its great to learn techniques and spread helpful knowledge, but when does it stop being helpful and start being toxic?