Is Social Media Anxiety Harming Your Mental Health?
Here's How to Use It in a Healthy Way in 2022
We have all been there. We are bored, waiting in line, we can’t sleep, or we lose interest in a show we’re watching what do we do? We scroll. We fall into deep pits of circulating through our favorite apps, absorbing information, and engaging in surface-level interactions. Before we know it, we’ve lost hours to the scroll, avoiding our work, responsibilities, boredom, and whatever else led us to pick up the phone.
When sharing fun photos and keeping in touch with friends turns into hours of mindless scrolling and negative content that affects your mental health, it is time to figure out how to use social media in a healthy way.
Social media can be a great resource and tool for connection, but it can also be a place of toxicity, bad habits, and anxiety. 90% of people aged 18-29 reported being active social media users and face continuous exposure to a plethora of various media and content. With the way that social media is integrated into our lives, it is definitely important to monitor your relationship with social media to protect your mental health.
Social Media Needs a Revolution
When thinking about your social media usage and if it’s harming your mental health, ask yourself these questions:
Do I scroll mindlessly and without purpose?
Do I spend a lot of my free time on social media?
Does certain content on my feed make me feel sad, angry, depressed, and/or anxious?
Do I have significant anxiety about social media that affects my mood and how I structure my daily life?
Do I spend multiple hours a day, every day, on social media?
Does social media affect my sleep and schedule?
If you answered yes to any, a few, or all questions above, you may want to reconsider your approach to and relationship with social media. In a tech-obsessed world, it may feel foreign to live in the moment without a device in your hand and immediate access to people and information. Fortunately, I’ve compiled some tips to help you be more mindful of what you take in on the internet and how to create some healthy boundaries for yourself.
Consider the work that goes into what you see vs. reality.
When you find yourself comparing yourself to others, immediately take a pause and remind yourself social media is not the real story. People edit their pictures, erase stretch marks and acne, and conceal other imperfections with filters. This creates unrealistic beauty standards and expectations that are not real.
Unfollow accounts that don’t serve you.
Again, not everyone on the internet promotes positive messages and creates a healthy space. If this is the case, do yourself a favor and unfollow those accounts. You have control over a lot of the content and media you see, so wield that power wisely and build a community and space of people and posts whose values align with yours.
Track your time.
The beauty of the iPhone is that you can check your screen time and see the breakdown of how much time you spent on each app and what times of the day. This could be super helpful in developing a more mindful and intentional relationship with your phone and social media.
Set limits.
Another iPhone hack that can help you control your social media usage is setting yourself time limits and alerts to notify you when you have exceeded your allotted scrolling time. You can set varying limits across all your different apps in the settings of your phone. This is a super useful tool in helping recognize when you have been aimlessly and mindlessly scrolling for too long and helping you realize it is time to take a break and be present.
Give it up.
No, not forever. But try a social media cleanse. You may find that you can find information, satisfaction, entertainment, connection, or whatever else you seek from your favorite social media in other places. Whether it is for a day or a week, a little digital detox can really help you realize the impact too much internet scrolling has on you.
Back to Basics
This article is not intended to shame anyone for their social media usage, to body shame the models and influencers that have a “perfect body,” or to encourage anyone to boycott social media. More so, it is to encourage people to embrace social media for its positives and break some of the bad habits many of us have formed with regular social media use and exposure.
Whether you see something or someone that upsets you, you overuse an app, or you lose sleep due to scrolling on your phone, these are all ways technology and social media anxiety can cause strain and a negative impact on our mental health. Many people look to their phones and favorite apps to help the unwind, relax, and be entertained. Understanding the negative effects social media can have on your mental health can be beneficial in helping identify other self-care strategies, creating healthy boundaries with social media, and being more aware and intentional with what we do on our phones. Please remember: though social media can be a good tool for mental health advocacy and community, there are better resources and more qualified professionals that can help you identify the barriers social media can have on your mental health and safety.
Reach out to me today to learn more about how therapy for anxiety can help you develop a healthier relationship with social media and overall experience greater wellness in your life.
