Do you know {that a} whopping 80% of the Australian inhabitants use social media? On one hand, that is nice information, as extra folks can join, be entertained, and get knowledgeable at any time, day or evening.
However, social media isn’t all optimistic. It has its dangers, together with the potential to extend psychological well being signs due to overuse or on-line hostility.
So how will we use social media safely, taking what it has to supply, whereas avoiding the impression it may well have on our psychological well being?
1. Set limits on how you utilize social media
It’s important to stop social media from taking focus away from essential elements of your life. So take into account committing to instances and actions the place you may be social media-free. For instance, plan to not use social media when chatting to your associate, enjoying with a toddler, or in any other case socialising in particular person. This creates a greater high quality reference to the folks you care about.
It’s additionally price avoiding social media earlier than sleep or in mattress, as this may disrupt your sleep and in flip, have an effect on your psychological well being.
There are instruments that may help with limiting your social media use. For instance, you should utilize your telephone’s setting to show off social media notifications at work or mealtimes, or put your telephone in airplane mode. There are additionally apps in your units that may assist by letting you realize the time you’re spending in your machine every day and organising devoted instances or cut-off dates for apps that you just use.
2. Use social media to attach
Social media permits you to join anyplace and anytime. This can be a enormous plus, particularly if you’re far-off from folks you care about or have challenges round leaving dwelling.
Nonetheless, analysis exhibits that individuals who browse or scroll social media passively expertise extra signs of melancholy than people who find themselves actively posting or participating with others. So, in case you’re utilizing social media to really feel linked, much less scrolling! As an alternative, submit extra, tag folks, chat with folks you realize within the offline world, or get to know some new folks on-line.
What’s extra, many individuals discover psychological well being friends on social media. These are individuals who have comparable psychological well being experiences. The higher anonymity of social media will help some folks communicate extra freely, permitting them to share and join with on-line pals and communities who perceive.
3. Unfollow accounts that make you are feeling unhealthy
Pay attention to the posts or accounts that carry up unfavorable feelings like concern, guilt, or not being ok. Contemplate hiding or unfollowing these accounts. You too can report accounts or advertisements that you just suppose may very well be unsafe for you or others.
The accounts you mute might additionally embrace the lives of your Fb pals! On social media folks usually painting a optimistic and idealised model of themselves. This will make you are feeling disgrace or envy – such as you don’t measure up. One examine discovered that our pals’ Fb posts make us really feel worse than different sorts of Fb posts.
This isn’t a suggestion to unfriend folks you care about. As an alternative, you may wish to take into account hiding or muting folks in your community whose idealised picture makes you are feeling extra depressed.
4. Create a protected social media area
It’s time to begin making a social media feed that makes you are feeling optimistic, assured, and protected. What are your passions, pursuits and hobbies? Whether or not you’re inquisitive about studying guitar, activism or DIY tasks there will probably be folks to observe who’ve nice recommendation or provide help to get impressed.
Social media has some protected and stigma-free areas for individuals who dwell with psychological well being points or neurodiversity. This may be an effective way to seek out empowering voices and position fashions. Simply kind #mentalhealth #autism or #neurodiverse into your social media platform to get began.
Social media is right here to remain, so it’s essential to think about how you utilize it and its impression in your psychological well being. Simply bear in mind to make use of it in a method that improves your temper and connections. And most significantly, it ought to improve your offline world, not substitute it.
For on-line connection that’s protected and nameless, go to the SANE Boards, the place counsellors and peer staff are readily available to assist and ensure members really feel supported.
