We’ve got a bit of a backlash on our hands. Apparently, according to Huffington Post, #fitspiration has now fallen in to a toxic whirl-wind and been spat out by the world of Instagram.
As a conscious marketing agency I’’m completely aware that social media can be toxic but there are a few things to point out here:
What is the intention behind peoples posts? Are they trying to body-shame you or are they celebrating their own successes?
If they are trying to make themselves feel good through making their followers feel bad, unfollow them. Immediately.
If they are celebrating their successes and using social media to leverage their continual progress in an honest, authentic way, consider being happy for them. If it still makes you feel bad, unfollow them or don’t double tap the post to like it. This way Instagram, Facebook or whichever platform it is will know you don’t like this kind of content, and reduce it in your algorithms.
You can’t control your other peoples behaviour, you can only control your own. Consider consciously striving to follow and interact with people, places & brands that make you feel good, interest you, excite you and make you LOL. There’s a huge trend for Insta Poetry at the moment, you could start by following #instapoet.
Social media is full to the brim of trends and backlashes. It’s people with opinions and interests sharing their experiences. We need to be aware of how we use it do that we don’t end up with #’s like #StrongEnoughButNotStrongEnoughToMakeOtherPeopleFeelBadButAlsoILikeABurgerOnTheWeekend
We spend a lot of time looking at behaviour surrounding #’s like #StrongNotSkinny. It’s a bit frustrating because often these people are both strong and skinny. However, when you look into it you find that often, these people also tap into posts like #TransformationTuesday where they explain they have increased their calories and have overcome eating disorders. They’re eliminating ideas of disordered eating and crash dieting. These posts are more applicable to people at a similar stage of their fitness journey so their mindset may not be relevant to a lot of their followers.
Trust me, I’ve been there. I’ve let social media get to my head. I didn’t ask anyone to change their behaviour, I worked through it and adjusted my mindset. My advice?
Before you put out your next post, before you log on to Instagram again and enable other peoples posts to effect you..read this.
Image via GIPHY