Social media has profoundly infiltrated our lives. With 79% of Americans using social media in 2019, I think we can safely assume most people are on social media in one way or another. 

If you want to buy something, you go check out the brand on social media.

If you want to sell a product, you have to build your presence on social media.

If you want to connect with friends – or strangers – you go to social media.

If you want to be entertained, you go to social media.

It seems like a big part of our lives revolves around social media use. So we wanted to compile a list of social media quotes that everyone can relate to. Whether you’re a marketer trying to improve your social media strategy, are in a relationship affected by social media addiction, or you just want to read some funny social media quotes, we’ve got you covered.

Here are the social media quote categories covered in this article, so you can jump straight to the one you’re looking for:

Social media break quotes
Social media addiction quotes
Quotes about social media and mental health
Social media quotes about relationships
Social media ruins lives quotes
Social media quotes by celebrities
Funny social media quotes
Social media quotes for business

90+ Social Media Quotes For Every Soul

Social media break/detox quotes

With all the pressure and anxiety that comes with social media, sometimes you just need a social media detox. Here is a list of social media break quotes that are perfect to post on your wall or feed when you decide to take a break:

“Sometimes you gotta take a break from all the noise to appreciate the beauty of silence.” — Robert Tew

“So I am on a social media break. Pinterest does not qualify as social media. It’s just awesomeness on a screen. An endless stream of awesomeness.” — Shiku Njath

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” — Anne Lamott

“Taking a break isn’t giving up. It’s taking time to strategize on how to come back even more awesome.” — Winter Harris

“The greatest gift that you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo

“Life is what happens between social media scrolls and your self-doubt.” — Unknown

“Don’t compare your real life to someone else’s controlled online content.” — Laura Distin

“In a world of algorithms, hashtags and followers, know the true importance of human connection.” — Simi Fromen

“There is no wifi in the forest, but you’ll find a better connection.” — Unknown

“It is not what you shout out to the world that determines your life… it is what you whisper to yourself that has the most power.” — Abigail Horne

“In a world where everyone is overexposed, the coolest thing you can do is maintain your mystery.” — Unknown

Social media addiction quotes

While not yet recognized as an official disorder by the World Health Organization, social media addiction is a real problem in today’s world and a proposed form of psychological or behavioral dependence. If you’re struggling or know someone who is, we’ve prepared a list of quotes about social media addiction that might help:

Famous quotes about social media addiction

“Our attention spans have been reduced by the immediate gratification provided by smartphones and social media.” — Katherine Ryan

“Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks: it gives us immediacy, direction, a sense of clarity and value as an individual.” ― David Amerland

“Just like using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain can — and does — lead to addiction, using social media to fill the void of relationships, or other needs, often leads to addiction, as well.” ― Mandy J. Hoffman

“Listening to teens talk about social media addiction reveals an interest not in features of their computers, smartphones, or even particular social media sites but in each other.” ― Danah Boyd

“People get addicted to feeling offended all the time because it gives them a high; being self-righteous and morally superior feels good.” ― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

“Instead of overly seeking to get more ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ on social media, seek to build trust and more meaningful, lasting relationships.” ― Bernard Kelvin Clive

Short quotes about social media addiction

“It is okay to own a technology, what is not okay is to be owned by technology.” ― Abhijit Naskar

“Social media not only snatches your time, but it also teaches you attention deficiency.” — Neeraj Agnihotri

“Phone breaks are in a way the new smoke breaks.” — A.D. Aliwat

“Social media is like crack – immediately gratifying and hugely addictive.” — Gary Vaynerchuck

“Social media addiction is like suicide in daily instalments.” — Bharat Nain

“One day you will look back and recall all the time you spent on social media and wonder why you didn’t invest that time someplace else.” ― Germany Kent

“It takes discipline not to let social media steal your time.” — Alexis Ohanian

“Are you using your device or is your device using you?” — Denzel Washington

Funny quotes about social media addiction

“Social media is to socializing what masturbating is to sex.” ― Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside The Mind of an Introvert

“Facebook is like a jail. You sit around & waste time, you write on walls & get poked by people you don’t even know.” — Unknown

“I heard internet addiction is now an official mental disorder & you can go to rehab for it. I’m only going if there’s Wi-Fi and I can check my Facebook.” — Unknown

“We are not addicted to Facebook. We only use it when we have time. Lunch time, break time, off time. No time, this time, that time, any time. All the time.” — Unknown

“I’m not always attached to my phone, sometimes it’s charging.” — Unknown

“There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software” — Edward Tufte

Instagram addiction quotes

Some of these quotes could apply to most social networks, but they are especially suitable for Instagram addiction:

“From my own experience, I find that there’s an almost addictive quality to the pain social media can cause us.” — Kelly Christ

“Life is what happens while you’re scrolling through Instagram.” — Unknown

“Get in the habit of asking yourself: ‘Does this support the life I’m trying to create?’” — Torey C. Richards

Quotes about social media and mental health

This category ties into social media addiction and how bad it can be for your mental health. As Tarana Burke said below, social media is not a safe space. The more you expose yourself to it, the higher your chances of developing a skewed perception of reality and how your life compares to others. These quotes are here to remind you that your mental health should take priority over scrolling on Instagram or TikTok.

“Facebook is to mental health, what fossil fuel is to climate health.” ― Abhijit Naskar

“When it comes to love and happiness, don’t compare your real life experiences to someone else’s seemingly perfect well-crafted social media posts.” ― Germany Kent

“For better mental health, just turning off the unwanted notifications, getting rid of the social apps that you don’t really need to have will help you in different ways.” — Jyoti Patel

“When your mental health becomes impacted by social media then it is time for a detox.” — Germany Kent

“I think a lot of people get lost. They start following iconic figures and get drowned in the pool of celebrities. Our society, as we know it, is definitely changing. With social media and cell phones, you freak out when you don’t know what’s going on.” — Israel Broussard

“Social media is not a safe space.” — Tarana Burke

“There is no such thing as social media, there is only unsocial media.” ― Abhijit Naskar

Social media quotes about relationships

With people spending more and more time on their phones and ignoring their partners and other people in their lives, it’s no wonder social media also affects relationships. If you’re overusing social media and it’s affecting your relationships, check out this list of social media quotes about relationships. It might put things in a different perspective:

“Social media doesn’t ruin relationships, acting single on it does.” — Tom Hardy

“The best sign of a healthy relationship is no sign of it on social media.” — Unknown

“Relationships only lasted a long time in your grandparents’ era because your grandma couldn’t log onto Facebook and see that your idiot grandfather liked that bitch Maureen’s selfie even though she just freaked out at him yesterday for having her as his best friend on Snapchat.” — Unknown

“Social media isn’t creating the problems in our relationships; it’s only exposing the ones that already existed.” — Steve Maraboli

“We live in a generation that is highly skilled at allowing connections to fade away. Because of social media and cell phones, we think people are replaceable, and that’s silly. You cannot replace the energy of someone who is genuine especially if they’re putting the consistent effort out, to be in your life. Appreciate them, cherish them, those people are gold.” — Sylvester Mcnutt

“I think people try to convince themselves that the use of social media during relationships is completely harmless. But if people really want to be so social, get up and explore new things with your partner instead of being online all the time faking the happiness or creeping.” — Horacio Jones

“Some of the best moments are never captured by cameras and are not posted on any social media platforms. They are kept in private and are cherished together with the best people.” — Unknown

Social media ruins lives quotes

We’ve already talked about how detrimental social media can be, to the point where it can ruin lives. Being addicted and overusing, lacking real human connection, and constantly comparing lives to those of other people are just some of the social media cons and side effects. Read these social media ruins lives quotes and feel inspired to maybe cut down on your social media use:

“The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” — Steven Furtick

“The purpose of a camera is to capture memories, not replace them.” ― Abhijit Naskar, The Gospel of Technology

“Social media creates an illusion of connectivity.” — Malay Shah

“The dark side of social media is that, within seconds, anything can be blown out of proportion and taken out of context. And it’s very difficult not to get swept up in it all.” — Nicola Formichetti

“Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” — Erin Bury

“Instead of diversity and originality, what the majority of people on social media appear to want is more of the same. Conformity is rewarded by both the community and the system – what we “like” most drives the algorithms, which in turn feed us more indistinguishable content which we happily consume.” ― Katherine Ormerod

“What people think of you will never be as good at providing support as what you think of yourself.” ― Katherine Ormerod

“Social media has created jealous behavior over illusions. Sadly, some are envious of things, relationships, & lifestyles that don’t even exist.” — Unknown

“In a funny way I think social media is making people less rather than more experimental. People are too worried about looking good all the time. When I grew up you could get it all horribly wrong and it didn’t matter, there was no record.” — Patrick Grant

Social media quotes by celebrities

There are some great famous social media quotes out there, so we couldn’t contain ourselves. Here is a list of social media quotes by celebrities:

“I just don’t like this compulsive, instantaneous, over-information, lack-of-privacy, weirdo aspect of the world.” — Drew Barrymore

“I would say for my generation, specifically, social media has really been terrible. It does scare me when you see how exposed these young boys and young girls are. I would be careful and allow yourself some time limits of when you should use it.” — Selena Gomez

“Following celebrities or people you don’t regularly see in person often doesn’t add to our happiness. The best use of social media is to deepen existing close relationships or create new ones.” — Michelle Gielan

“What’s awesome about social media is you curate your own experience. That leads to the rise of niche celebrities, who are actually just as popular as mass celebrities, but because there’s no incentive for traditional media to invest in them as celebrities, they find a home where people can follow them on Instagram.” — Kevin Systrom

“Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions.” — Will Smith

“If everything was perfect, you would never learn and you would never grow.” — Beyoncé

“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” — Steve Jobs

“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou

“Social media is called social media for a reason. It lends itself to sharing rather than horn-tooting.” — Margaret Atwood

“It’s hard to focus on your well-being and mental health when each time you open Instagram someone is tearing apart your job, or your relationship or essentially any of the things in your life that are positive.” — Hailey Rhode Bieber

“I made a mistake when I gave my older ­children phones when they were 13. It ended my relationship with them, really. Not completely, but it became a very, very big part of their lives. They became too inundated with imagery and started to compare themselves to other people, and that’s really bad for self-growth.” — Madonna

“There’s so much negativity on social media, I don’t want to add to that.” — Shawn Mendes

“There are those who build careers just out of being popular on Instagram, but there’s nothing behind them.” — Margot Robbie

“Social media is all smoke and mirrors.” — Ed Sheeran

“When it comes to social media, there are just times I turn off the world, you know. There are just sometimes you have to give yourself space to be quiet, which means you’ve got to set those phones down.” — Michelle Obama

“Social media has given us this idea that we should all have a posse of friends when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.” — Brené Brown

“It’s good to be happy and tell us how cool your life is and how awesome you are on social media. That’s great because it inspires other people to be happy, too. But a lot of times, people are trying to be happy in the wrong ways – with money or with different things that are not true happiness.” —Jaden Smith

“Using social media to hurt and destroy is callous, acted out by cowards hiding behind computers. My advice is to ignore negativity. Focus on the love around.” — Martin Garrix

“Social media is an advertisement for the superficial extroverted self.” — Hozier

“There are things that people say that hurt my feelings or whatever, especially with social media right now. It can be the most amazing thing, and it can also be the most negative and detrimental thing.” — Zendaya

Funny social media quotes

Social media has all this negativity surrounding it, and we’ve highlighted it a lot in this article as well, but sometimes we just have to make fun of ourselves and the way we use it. Here are some funny social media quotes to lighten the mood:

“Twitter provides us with a wonderful platform to discuss/confront societal problems. We trend Justin Bieber instead.” — Lauren Leto

“Twitter is a great place to tell the world what you’re thinking before you’ve had a chance to think about it.” — Chris Pirillo

“Facebook is the only place where it’s acceptable to talk to a wall.” — Unknown

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, plus a social media overreaction.” — Unknown

“I want you to know that someone out there cares. Not me, but someone.” — Unknown

“Facebook is like having nosey neighbors who don’t really like you. They just stay connected to look over the fence and see what you’re doing.” — Unknown

“Stalking is all fun and games. Until you accidentally press the like button.” — Unknown

“You only live once. Make sure you spend 15 hours on the Internet daily, seeking validation from strangers.” — Unknown

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens on social media stays on Google forever.” — Unknown

“Remember when people had diaries and got mad when someone read them? Now they put everything online and get mad when people don’t.” — Unknown

“These days, in the world of apps and social media and … idiot friends, it is literally impossible to avoid spoilers.” — Dan Howell

Social media quotes for business

This one is for all the marketers and business owners out there trying to up their social media marketing game. 

If you’re looking to improve your social media advertising, strategy, or engagement, and need inspiration, social media quotes from experts are a great place to start. Here is our list of social media quotes for business:

“The goal of social media is to turn customers into a volunteer marketing army.” — Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

“The strength of social media is determined by the strength of your content.” — Haroon Rashid, Khemeia Consulting

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” — Erik Qualman, motivational speaker and author of Socialnomics

“Social Media can provide a conversational extension to a B2B company’s nurturing programs. Social Media gives us the opportunity to humanize our communications and make our companies more approachable.” — Ardath Albee, CEO of marketinginteractions.com

“Engage rather than sell … Work as a co-creator, not a marketer.” — Tom H. C. Anderson, market researcher

“You don’t need a corporation or a marketing company to brand you now: you can do it yourself. You can establish who you are with a social media following.” — Ray Allen, professional basketball player

“Social media will help you build up loyalty of your current customers to the point that they will willingly, and for free, tell others about you.” — Bonnie Sainsbury, Founder and CEO of Social Media Smarter

“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.” — Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

“Focus on how to be social, not on how to do social.” — Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

“Social media creates communities, not markets.” — Don Schultz, marketing expert

“The most successful marketer becomes part of the lives of their followers. They follow back. They wish happy birthday. They handle problems their customers have with products or service. They grow their businesses and brands by involving themselves in their own communities.” — Marsha Collier, author and educator

“Social media isn’t the end-all-be-all, but it offers marketers unparalleled opportunity to participate in relevant ways. It also provides a launch-pad for other marketing tactics. Social media is not an island. It’s a high-power engine on the larger marketing ship.” — Matt Dickman, Vice President of Digital Communications at Comcast Corporation

“Build it, and they will come” only works in the movies. Social Media is a “build it, nurture it, engage them, and they may come and stay.” — Seth Godin

“Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.” — Seth Godin

“The way you treat your users or customers, and how you personally present yourself through social media, is a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.” — Alexis Ohanian, Reddit Cofounder 

“Social Media is about the people! Not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.” — Matt Goulart, founder of Ignite Digital

“It’s a dialogue, not a monologue, and some people don’t understand that. Social media is more like a telephone than a television.” — Amy Jo Martin, Author of Renegades Write The Rules

“When I hear people debate the ROI of social media? It makes me remember why so many businesses fail. Most businesses are not playing the marathon. They’re playing the sprint. They’re not worried about lifetime value and retention. They’re worried about short-term goals.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

“Monitor, engage, and be transparent; these have always been the keys to success in the digital space.” — Dallas Lawrence, Levick Strategic Communications

“Too many brands treat social media as a one-way, broadcast channel, rather than a two-way dialogue through which emotional storytelling can be transferred.” — Simon Mainwaring, best-selling author, and keynote speaker

“We get to live in a time that we get to use social media as a tool. It’s not just a face on a piece of paper, and that’s what makes you someone’s favorite model. We can have a very similar sense of humor as someone, and that’s why we’re their favorite model, or our personal style, off the runway, is why we’re their favorite.” — Gigi Hadid, Fashion Model

“You have to stop doing what everyone else is doing. Listen to your gut, go in a new direction, do something you’ve never done before. Learn from the best. Success is yours if you go in your own direction.” — Amanda Weinraub, Business Owner, Social Media Manager, Web Designer

“Our head of social media is the customer.” — McDonald’s

“Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention spans. They’re only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that cat. And that can be a high bar.” — Alexis Ohanian, Reddit Cofounder

“Don’t fix the marketing first, fix your product. Once you’ve got a good product to talk about, the marketing’s going to flow from that.” — Scott Monty, Ford social-media chief

“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.” — Pam Moore

“The beauty of social media is that it will point out your company’s flaws; the key question is how quickly you address these flaws.” — Erik Qualmann, motivational speaker and author of Socialnomics

“Word-of-mouth marketing isn’t about giving customers talking points, as if they were brand spokespeople. It’s about delivering an exceptional customer experience that makes customers want to recommend you.” — Deborah Eastman

“Don’t worry; skills are cheap, passion is priceless. If you’re passionate about your content and you know it and do it better than anyone else, even with few formal business skills you have the potential to create a million-dollar business.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

“Going viral is not an outcome; it’s a happening. Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn’t. Just remember, fans are vanity and sales are sanity.” — Lori Taylor, founder and CEO of The Produce Moms

“Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers.” — Bryan Weiner, CEO at 360i

“Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.” — Jon Buscall, Professional Photographer.

“The best way to engage honestly with the marketplace via Twitter is to never use the words ‘engage’, ‘honestly’, or ‘marketplace’.” — Jeffrey Zeldman

I hope you’ve enjoyed this comprehensive list of social media quotes. If you’re still thirsty for more social media fun – and why wouldn’t you be? – check out the best social media memes.

Don’t forget to share your favorite social media quotes from this article on your social media channels.

See also: What are the best marketing podcasts?