Let's Talk About Social Media

Are you using social media to your advantage or detriment?📱💭

Social media is often argued as either one of the best or worse technological advancements of the 21st century. When social media is used appropriately it can have numerous benefits for you as the user. But unfortunately, it is very easy for users of social media to develop negative user habits that can result in adverse mental health consequences. This can happen without you being aware.

👉 An individual’s social media usage is often an overlooked factor when they are trying to determine why they are feeling low or anxious. However, it can be associated with both anxiety and depression (Lin et al. 2016 and Primack et al. 2017). Managing your social media habits is important for everyone but particularly for people who experience anxiety or depression as social media can worsen your symptoms!📉

👉 What are some examples of bad social media habits?

🔷 Easily losing track of time while on social media 🔷 Determining how you feel about yourself based on how many likes your posts get 🔷 Not being able to be in the present moment and enjoy yourself because your focus is on social media 🔷 Spending too much time on social media

👉 How much daily social media time is recommended?

✍️ The Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology (2018) has reported the ideal maximum overall social media usage a day to be 30 minutes or less.

👉 Why might you find it difficult to minimise your social media usage?

🔶 It’s important to be aware that social media apps may have employed specialists to maximise the addictiveness of the app, so you the consumer, stay plugged in and keep returning. 🔶 When you have a pleasurable experience using social media it can activate the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. Dopamine has an important role in feeling pleasure. Therefore, once social media triggers your dopamine, you keep going back to it because your brain has associated it with the rush of dopamine. 🔶 App’s algorithms can be designed to be addictive, to get your brain to produce dopamine and this feels pleasurable so it can make it difficult to minimise your social media usage.

👉 Example of Social Media Habits:

John wakes up and habitually checks his phone before he leaves his bed and begins to start his day. This habit causes John to experience a rush of dopamine first thing in the morning and he is left chasing this for the day. He checks his social media throughout the day whenever he finds himself feeling bored and with a few minutes to spare. This stops him from being present and enjoying the moment. John also frequently uses social media apps before he falls asleep. This results in John staying up late and falling asleep at different times each night resulting in him not having a healthy sleep schedule. John follows everyone on social media that follows him, he feels this is the polite thing to do even with people he doesn’t particularly like. This results in him frequently getting annoyed when he sees their posts appear on his newsfeed. He also looks at accounts of social media influences and often doesn’t realise he is comparing himself to them. This results in him feeling as if he isn’t good enough or he isn’t working hard enough. John feels like he is missing out when he isn’t checking his social media but when he sees other people doing activities together he feels lonely and isolated. John shares posts to his accounts all the time but he does feel worthless when other people don’t interact with his content as much as he’d have hoped. All of these social media habits and the associated effects have resulted in John frequently feeling depressed and anxious.

Mary also has social media accounts. Mary has three favourite apps and she’ll use each for a maximum of ten minutes each a day, but she doesn’t feel like she has to do this every day. Social media is not a part of Mary’s morning routine and she doesn’t use it for at least an hour before bed when she does use it. Mary is selective with who she follows, she follows her family (some of who live abroad so this is a great way for her to keep in contact), her friends, and people who add value to her life. For example, Mary has been practicing yoga for years so she follows informative yoga accounts that teach her new poses or provide information about upcoming yoga retreats. Mary has recently decided she would like to improve her culinary skills so she also follows cooking accounts to inspire her to try new recipes. Mary also uploads content to her social media sometimes, but she has no expectations of how many likes she will receive as she does not use it as a tool to determine her self-worth or seek validation from others. Mary feels happy and is using social media to maintain as well as improve areas of her life she would like to work on to maintain a healthy mental well-being.

Both John and Mary both have social media accounts. The difference in their social media habits and how they choose to interact with social media have very different effects on their well-being.

👉 Improving your social media habits exercise:

There are lots of different things you can do to improve your social media usage. You may already have mostly healthy habits with only a few requiring a change or you might need a complete overhaul. Below there are a few suggestions of different things you might like to try, remember everyone is unique and it can take time and exploration to find what works for you:

✍️ Remove all the people you follow on social media that cause you to experience negative feelings, for example, an ex-partner or friend from school who posts things you don’t like ✨

✍️ Remove all the people you follow on social media that you compare yourself to, this might be celebrities or popular influences✨

✍️ Start forming a new habit where you don’t use social media first thing in the morning or last thing at night✨

✍️ Post things because you want to share them, not because you want other people to interact with them. This may stop you from using social media as a form of validation✨

✍️ Start following new accounts that inspire you, think about your passions and interests or something you’d like to learn more about✨

Managing your social media habits is just one tool for improving your mental well-being.