Ever feel like you’re stuck in a social media vortex? Social media can be a great way to connect, laugh, and learn new things. But let’s be honest, it can also be a major time suck and leave us feeling, well, a little empty. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can take control of your social media experience! In this article, we discuss how to navigate social media in a healthy way.
Take Control of Your Feed
Your mental health is affected by a variety of things, including social media. When it comes to posts, regardless of who you follow, influencers, celebrities, family, friends, or businesses, it’s important to remember that each TikTok, reel, and photo, is carefully curated. In the same vein, it’s time to curate who you follow for the sake of your mental health!
When looking through the accounts you follow, some thoughts to consider when deciding who to keep and who to unfollow are:
- Are you overwhelmed by the posts?
- Do they make you feel good or bad about yourself and your life?
- Do you find yourself comparing yourself to the account holder?
- Do you experience bad or unhelpful thoughts and feelings when scrolling the account?
- Do the posts make you feel isolated?
Once you’ve removed the accounts that do you more harm than good, cultivate a feed that includes communities that make you feel good, inspire you, and help you explore your interests.
Don’t Focus on Likes
There are times when we create a new post, whatever it might be, we find ourselves focusing on how many people have engaged with it. We compare how many likes we’ve gotten compared to our friends, strangers, and other people who actively work and seek higher engagement for work. When we focus too much on likes, it can start affecting our mood and can also affect our self-esteem.
Reduce Screen Time
It’s no secret that spending less time staring at a screen is better for you. Screentime has become a habit. It’s rare for people to not be glued to their phones, tablets, or computers throughout the day, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Excessive screen time is linked to problems like sleep troubles, feeling down, and even skipping school. Not only that, but it can also worsen existing conditions like depression, anxiety, and ADHD. When you reduce your screen time, you create more time for hobbies and activities that bring you joy and enrich your life.
Take a Break and Switch Off
While making positive changes by reducing the time we spend on social media apps and refining the accounts we follow, sometimes additional steps or a short break are just what we need to have a healthy relationship with social media. If you don’t want to completely deactivate your account, you can start by turning off notifications or removing the app from your device. A break can be a full day, week, or month, whatever you may need. Sometimes, taking a break can help us focus on other activities we enjoy more, such as reading, working out, running, hiking, painting, or any other interests you may have because hobbies are known to help reduce stress and combat depression.