New year, new me.

That’s the saying, isn’t it?

But it’s ALWAYS the saying, year after year. How many times can we reinvent ourselves for the new year? Is it actual reinvention, though, or continuing the idea of reinvention that so many people— myself included— hold onto as we ring in the new year?

As we get ready to enter March, many people are still holding onto their New Year’s resolutions. It may be because we are all able to spend time at home working on crafts or working out. It could be related to the elevated “grind mentality” that the pandemic and social media have created.

Everyone has to be “grinding” or “hustling” or “reinventing” themselves, it seems like. We see influencers preach and promote ways to better ourselves in our businesses, relationships or physical health, which is honestly really annoying, especially for someone like me who struggles to have the motivation to get through the week. There is nothing I want more than to hustle and grind, but oh man, I am tired.

There is a pressure to perform on social media, even when one has a small following. The number of followers it usually takes to be considered an influencer is in the tens of thousands. That is pretty unattainable for the average person, but not impossible.

But, even though it’s not impossible, that doesn’t mean everyone should be aiming for it.

There is beauty in having a small amount of social media influence. It’s a smaller community and can be more intimate. Most people I know say, “Oh, I ONLY use Facebook to keep a tab on my family.” OK… but is that not what all social media was intended for in the first place? That’s how these all started, right?

Social media is a way to show our friends and family what we are up to. Nowadays, it does feel like we are still showing our friends and family what we are doing, but there is that level of, “I’m doing better than you, and you should try harder.”

Even though it does sound pretty vain, there is some science to WHY we post like that. It’s not because everyone who posts on social media is a bad person, but because when we get a like on a post, we get a little emotional boost.

It’s because we WANT to be liked. The little tiny rush of Dopamine we get when someone likes our posts encourages us to continue to use social media in this way (and it can even help with some mental health problems!)

According to Psychreg, “When we share something on our social media profiles, we invite feedback. Seeing positive reactions pop up in our notifications gives our brains a shot of dopamine – a chemical once thought to create pleasure but now understood to cause us to seek it. The more likes we get, the more we want, and so on.”

Within the past decade, there has been exponential growth in social media use, and its use has continually become an environment that allows for personal “proof” of betterment and education.

The first few months of every year, we see people working out, posting new recipes or talking about new products. The way that people share these images or videos can be a way of accountability for themselves to continue to post and update their followers. I think that this side to the “grind mentality of social media is actually helpful for people who want to improve themselves.

The main conflict that I have seen on social media is the continual “stunting” of people’s accomplishments. We have to take everything we see with a grain of salt, but I think—and hope— that we all know that when using social media.

It is a new year, and I would love it if it was a new me. But it’s the same me posting the same things, but hopefully in a way that does not “stunt” on the people who follow me.

Mae Macfarlane can be reached at Macf7507@stthomas.edu.