How to Have a Healthier Relationship with Social Media?
Social media has become such a big part of our lives; we sometimes don’t even realize how much time we spend scrolling through our feeds. It’s the last thing many of us look at before we go to bed and the first thing we check when we wake up – but does interacting with social media hurt our mental health?
A recent finding published in the Journal of Mental Health found that 70 studies conducted over the last ten years to examine how social media affects mental health came back with differing conclusions. Some studies found social media to have a positive impact on people’s lives, while others warned against the possible connection between social media and depression or anxiety.
Ultimately, the study found that social media does affect mental health. Whether it’s a positive or negative impact is determined by how the individual uses the platforms. Finding a balance and developing healthy habits for using social media is essential for making sure it has a positive presence in your life.
If you need to reevaluate your relationship with social media but don’t want to quit cold turkey, here are some tips for healthier social media habits:
1. Use the screentime option
Have a downtime set from 12 pm-5 pm on weekdays. Things like phone calls, texts, and music are always allowed, but put this time limit on all social media apps on your phone including Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. That means you don’t get notified during those times, and your not opening those apps on autopilot like you used to. Also, don’t check social media first thing in the morning which has increased my productivity levels.
2. Turn off notification alerts
If you get a notification, you're going to click on it. Even if you're doing something important, you still feel the urge to check on the notification. To stop the constant distractions, turned off notification alerts on your phone for any of my social media apps. If you happen to check the app during the day, you’ll see the notification and deal with it then. There are plenty of people who can’t deal with missing something, but you’re not one of those people and you can become that person too if you let yourself.
3. Add a feed blocker to Chrome
Have the News Feed Eradicator for Facebook Chrome extension on your computer which shows you a quote on the homepage instead of the news feed. This means you only go on Facebook to check notifications and messages instead of scrolling or getting distracted by random posts.
4. Take advantage of the mute button
Instagram and Twitter both have the option to mute people, and Facebook has the option to unfollow. This is a really helpful option if you want to reduce the noise on your feed without unfollowing people (which can feel super awkward). Sometimes go through and mute almost everyone you follow just so that you can be on social media without so much noise. Also, stop following anyone who makes you compare your life to theirs. And stop checking who viewed your Instagram story for the sake of your sanity.
5. Put your mental health first.
Check in with yourself and if you’re feeling down, maybe go outside for a walk or grab coffee with a friend rather than spending time online. If getting notifications throughout the day makes you feel stressed or anxious then it would be a good idea to delete the social media apps from your phone or disable push notifications, so you only see alerts when you sign in manually.
Being on social media can help enhance your life, but it can also easily become an additional stressor, and potentially exacerbate symptoms of anxiety or depression. Using some of these tips can help you create healthy social media habits that create balance in your life, protect your mental health, and make your social media use a positive force rather than a negative one.
If you feel that social media is impacting your mood more than it should, and taking a break isn’t helping you find relief, then consider reaching out and speaking with someone. If you aren’t sure who to talk to or how to start the conversation, you can take a free, anonymous online screening that will provide you with more information about how you’re feeling and connect you with local resources.
Being resilient is something that’s always been very important to us at In Bloom. We believe that a strong mindset is what allows you to stay focused on your intentions, instead of negative thoughts. It's what helps you understand that struggle is impermanent and won't derail your success. It keeps you from making self-destructive decisions which is an area we explore in our Resilience & Equanimity Workshop.