What Sophie Said

I’ve got a bad habit when it comes to the online world. I’m a hoarder. I’ve spoken before about my relationship to excess ‘stuff’. I think my online life is the same. We look at so much regularly – various social media accounts, email accounts and websites – via laptops, phones, tablets… There’s so much information and entertainment out there, how do you know when to stop? There’s so much to consume and to learn and to read. I’m a serial bookmarker. Pressing that little star at the top of the browser is so easy. I’ve got so many things to read later. And the list build and builds. Every now and then I have to set aside actual time to go through and digest some of the things I’ve been saving. The problem is, there are some really great things on the internet. So many articles, recipes, so much advice, so many ideas. I subscribe to the newsletters of so many amazing people, all of whom share the work of other amazing people. So...

Last week, I spoke to Felicity at BBC Newsbeat on the topic of mental health and social media. Her post (which is fantastic and can be read HERE ) got me thinking on the topic and my story a little more. The article summarised my own experience: when I first started to see the symptoms of my anxiety when I was at university, I had no idea what it was. It was through reading blogs and reading what people were saying on social media what I learned more about it, got the courage to see my GP, and learned it was ok to talk to my friends and family about it. I learned it was ok to talk, and ok to need some help. Since speaking to Felicity, this idea has been stuck in my head so I thought I’d write a bit of a follow-up on exactly how social media helped me. As I said, it was at university that my anxiety began to take on a big role in my life, and began to have a big effect. It was also during university that I completely fell for the world of blogging and social media. I was qu...

I’ve ‘almost’ written this post so many times. As a fact in itself, this makes me sad. Each time I’m prompted to write it, I take a step back, and just note it down. Because I don’t want to make it clear each time exactly what I’m reacting to. The particular discussion/topic doesn’t actually matter. What matters are people’s reactions to it. On the one hand, the blogging/social media world is a tight-knit community. People make great friendships. People share great content. People applaud one another’s successes. But every now and then – and unfortunately it’s fairly consistent – there’s drama. This is to be expected to an extent. After all, no one is happy all of the time, and arguments and disagreements happen. The majority of the time, people are mature enough to accept that it’s ok to have different opinions. Sometimes, these opinions are harmful or upsetting to one or multiple people. Sometimes, it’s impossible not to respond. The probl...