Brianna is addicted to her cell phone. She stares at it all day long waiting for it to bring her pleasure or comfort. While waiting, she thinks,

Why isn’t anyone snapping me?

No one liked my Instagram post yet.

I’m so unpopular!

Why don’t more people like me?

Fear of social criticism and rejection is totally normal during the teen years (adult years too!). But when it interferes with school and life, then it’s time to be mindful of what is happening. You don’t want social anxiety to creep in. Social anxiety is an extreme fear of being judged, criticized or rejected in social situations. Social media can contribute to, or even cause, that anxiety. When people live in fear of how other people will respond to their social media posts, it can actually change the brain and cause people to be fearful or mistrustful in social relationships.

Is it true that you get a burst of excitement when you get a response on social media? Yes! But if you don’t get the response you want, then you can also feel let down. That is a feeling to avoid and mindfulness can help.

When you practice mindfulness, your focus is NOT on judgments. Your focus is on more beneficial thoughts like, Responses to my snaps or Instas do not define how good they are or what type of person I am.

You also learn to pay attention to the emotions that pop up and then you can control them. If you feel rejected, you can just notice that and then let it go. The feeling does not need to overwhelm you or control your response.

Before Mindfulness: You post something and sit there and wait for people to make you feel good about who you are by liking the post.

After Mindfulness: You post something and continue to enjoy the rest of your feed. As for your post, you are hoping others appreciate your humor, or whatever you shared, but the responses don’t matter so much to you anymore. You won’t let a post response ruin how much you liked your post.

Now let’s not forget the power of mindfulness on our physical self….