How social media undermines our job satisfaction (and what you can do about it)

You’ve just cleared your inbox, made it through a tough meeting, or wrapped up a complex file. Time for a break. You open Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn – and there it is: someone sharing a post about their fourth promotion in two years, their new company car, or their decision to leave everything behind and travel the world as a freelancer. You keep scrolling and stumble upon another post: someone publicly criticising their manager, or going on a rant about how “corporate jobs” drain your soul.

And there you are. With your coffee, your to-do list, and a nagging feeling that maybe… you're missing something.

Social media puts pressure on our happiness at work. Not because we’re naïve or easily influenced, but because the algorithm knows exactly what grabs our attention: emotion. And nothing hits harder than extreme positivity or sharp negativity.

Ian Schoonjans, senior consultant at recruitment specialist Robert Walters, works with professionals every day in their pursuit of job satisfaction. He shares his insights into how social media impacts our work happiness – and what we can do about it.

The two voices that disrupt your work happiness

We constantly compare ourselves to what we see online – often without realising it.

“That’s the tricky part,” says Ian. “What we’re exposed to online are mostly the extremes: joyful success stories or bitter disappointments. The grey area – where most careers actually take place – is largely invisible.”

That constant stream of extremes can erode your job satisfaction. You start to question yourself: Am I earning enough? Do I have enough freedom? Should I make a radical change too? Before you know it, you're torn between “I need to achieve more” and “I need to get out of here.”

The consequences: bashing, quitting, disengaging

Prolonged exposure to this kind of comparison changes your behaviour – often without you realising it. You might become more cynical about your work. You might start seeing your managers as ‘control freaks’ or ‘incompetent boomers’. You might find yourself fantasising more and more about quitting your job.

This restlessness translates into notable trends, both in the workplace and online:

• Manager bashing: publicly criticising your boss, often without context or nuance.

• Revenge quitting: impulsively handing in your notice out of frustration, without a plan or preparation.

• Quiet quitting: mentally checking out and doing only the bare minimum.

Ian says: “At first glance, this behaviour might seem like self-care, but it often damages your professional reputation, your workplace relationships, and your motivation – which may once have been your greatest asset.”

What can you do?

You don’t have to cut social media out of your life entirely to protect your happiness at work. A few conscious choices can make a world of difference:

• Be critical of what you see and remember that social media shows a distorted view. It’s a shop window, not a mirror. Success stories are curated, frustrations amplified. You live somewhere in between – in the real world of work.

• Follow people who inspire you, not those who frustrate you. If certain accounts make you feel bad, stop following them. Your feed is yours to curate.

• Talk to real people, offline. A meaningful conversation with a colleague or mentor – without filters or hashtags – is far more valuable than endless scrolling.

• Explore your restlessness. If you find yourself feeling irritable, ask: where is this feeling coming from? What does it say about what you miss, need or care about? Reflect on what you truly want from your work, and what gives you energy.

Job Satisfaction Doesn’t Fit into an Algorithm

The biggest trap of social media is that it teaches us to believe happiness is both engineerable and measurable – in promotions, likes, freedom, money, status. But job satisfaction isn’t something you can sum up in a post or capture in a single success. It’s something that grows – through making choices every day that align with who you are.

“Perhaps the restlessness you feel is a signal. A sign that you're looking for more meaning, recognition, or balance. But to find what you truly need, you don’t have to escape, bash, or compare. You just have to pause – and listen. Not to the noise around you, but to what truly matters in your own working life,” Ian concludes.

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