By Samantha Morris

Have you ever seen Black Mirror and the episode ‘Nosedive’? If not, it really is a brilliant satire on the realistic, dark and dangerous and hypnotic impact social media has on our lives. Just like the characters in the satire, there is a very real danger that we are becoming so focused on simply creating and sharing the most impressive social profiles in order to build or to buy a following of 1000k likes or more.

But what do these ‘likes’ and the importance of building a huge following mean for you? Is it the need to be ‘liked’ or even loved? Is it easier or harder to connect with people online that it is face-to-face? What happens when you don’t receive the number of ‘likes’ or followers that you want? The perfect ‘selfie’ has become an epidemic and can cause people to become so obsessed in both creating and showing the ‘perfect’ version of themselves in order to feel loved.

Yet, do you really feel loved and alive after receiving these likes from friends or strangers, or do you end up feeling the short-term effects of the social media drug before you feel compelled to take it again, again and again? We might ask; what effect does social media have on our everyday lives? What does it give us as individuals and what does it take away? Who are we without these ‘likes’ and social media?

The Search for Love, Acknowledgment and Happiness Is An Inside Journey

Within the episode of Black Mirror, the main character lives in a world where each character’s social media ranking dictates the rest of their life from the opportunities available to you, to how people rate you as a person and your value to society, to even whether you’ll be matched with the ‘perfect partner’. Yet, what is scary is how our inner spirit, gifts and freedom to be ourselves can be deadened and desesntised by the elusive digital search for love and acknowledgment that ‘we are acceptable and ok!’ and that we are still a part of the pack and that we won’t be cast out into the wilderness.

The truth is that social media is a reality and we need to be able to work with it, to connect with it in order to express ourselves and to survive in today’s world. However, the question is; are you looking to find love or to fill that gap in your life by connecting through social media? Or are you using it to express and embrace your uniqueness, your life’s experiences and to healthily connect with others?

The secret is that you won’t find what you’re looking for through the number of likes or the number of followers you have. You will however awaken your inner spirit by giving yourself time, permission and kindness to understand your own experiences and to ask yourself whether you have ever felt understood acknowledged and loved. By giving yourself permission to reconnect to your inner needs and healing (either alongside a therapist, a friend or a family member) you are opening yourself up to feeling alive and loved!

When you begin to open yourself up to a journey of self-love and discovery, you are opening yourself up to a whole new existence and life (not just the digital world).