-Anonymous-

We’ve struggled with our mental health since the beginning of humankind. From anxiety to BPD or PTSD, all of them have been strongly affecting our lives for a long time now. Though, given the advent of social media, I can’t help but wonder if our mental health hasn’t gotten worse in the past 30 years as more and more unrealistic standards placed on kids, teens, and even adults pressure them to change who they are to fit the norm. Maybe, back in the day, mental illnesses were not often the result of deliberate cruelty.

Although nowadays there are many reasons for a mental illness to develop, I can’t deny the fact that over the course of our history it was also pretty easy to have one. Given all the wars, brutal murders, plagues, and many natural disasters, it’s obvious many couldn’t mentally handle their lots in life. The biggest difference is that most of those causes back then were out of human control, while now, we are the monsters that create the hellhole we live in.

We are the ones dictating what social media are and creating the unhealthy standards they set. We are the ones bullying others into being someone they are not. I speak from experience. I’ve been bullied by girls who were brainwashed into thinking anorexia should be normalized and that being pretty is a top priority. Maybe I wasn’t the skinniest or the coolest kid back then, but why should that be a reason to make my life so hard that I still get panic attacks thinking about my old school? Just why do we have to be the ones making the rod for our own backs?

In the 21st century, getting the help we need for our mental health is so much easier, especially given the greater social awareness, access to psychologists and specialized hospitals, and the existence of modern medication. Meanwhile, years ago, they would’ve most definitely called you a witch if you were any different from them. But have we really evolved past that? Why are we still forcing our will onto others? Why do we try to make everyone the same? We cannot keep going like this. All those posts that make teenagers so insecure just prove how society isn’t evolving; it’s going back to the primitive era we worked so hard to escape.

Life shouldn’t be lived in constant fear; it should be enjoyed. If someone has already developed a mental illness, we should do our best to support them. Mental illness is not a laughing matter; it’s a serious, everyday problem and one has to be very strong to survive something so difficult. So don’t be the one causing someone else’s trauma. You never know what another person is going through, so don’t add to it. Remember this: treat others the way you would treat yourself. Even if you’ve been hurt by a monster, retaliation will only make you the same monster they are.

I hope those who read this article can at least rethink the way they speak on social media. I genuinely hope that one day, society will finally evolve instead of destroying itself from within.