Using Social Media to Improve Your Mental Health

Using these apps as social tools rather than distraction mechanisms allows us to stay connected with those we care about adaptively and healthily.

Medically reviewed by Dr John Ogrodniczuk, PhD – Written by the HeadsUpGuys Team.

For many of us, social media has become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. If used within limits, it can be a great way to stay in touch with family and friends and enjoy some downtime. However, as its popularity grows, so does the body of research pointing to its association with increased odds of depression and worsening of depressive symptoms.

Being aware of when and how often you use them, as well as how these apps filter content to you, is critical for managing their impact on your mental health.

Here are some tips to help you make sure social media is working for you and not pulling you down:

1. Reflect on your current use

Looking at your daily or weekly social media use is a good place to start. We often don’t read how frequently we check social media, as it becomes almost second nature. Having a clear understanding of how much time you currently spend on social media is an important part of ensuring your use is healthy and constructive.

To check, either go to the settings inside the specific app or the general settings on your device:

- Google device users: all your usage data can be found in the Digital Wellbeing section of your settings. This is connected to the Google Wellbeing tool, which provides an in-depth analysis of your device use. It also lets you set time limits for the apps and websites you visit frequently.

- Other Android devices: check under the “battery "section in your settings.

- Apple users: It will be located under Screen Time. This tool will give you a full breakdown of the general time spent on your device, as well as the time spent on specific apps. This will also let you set time limits for specific apps you use frequently.

Some apps, like Facebook and Instagram, have features that let you view your usage data within the app.

- To access these tools, go to the settings in the app and look for “Your Activity” or “Your Time" to see a day-by-day analysis of your current usage.

Other resources include apps like Freedom and SPACE, which can be downloaded to iOS, Android, or desktop devices and help you analyse and manage your social media use.

2. Set a limit

Once you know how much time you spend on social media, you can set goals for yourself based on what you consider to be healthy.

Research shows that limiting social media use to approximately 30 minutes per day can lead to a significant decrease in depressive symptoms. Finding a manageable, realistic time limit that you can stick to is key.

3. Don’t add

Social media use shouldn’t be part of your daily life. To ensure this, avoid falling into stress traps and doomscrolling. Doom scrolling is the term for when a person dives into a rabbit hole of negative, off-putting content/news fed to them by an app’s algorithm. These types of negative content cycles can be triggered by initially engaging with stressful or troubling content and subsequently clicking on more negatively centred posts or feeds.

To negate these patterns, avoid content that triggers stress or makes you upset. This is the most straightforward way to ensure that your social media use isn’t contributing to the stresses you may already be facing. Instead, focus on using social media as a tool to consume positivity and uplifting content.

4. Connect with others

The type of content you choose to interact with on social media will continue to be shown to you each time you open the app or receive a notification. As users, we can harness this power by inviting positive content.

Using social media to connect with friends and loved ones, or positively engaging your curiosity, can help you avoid mindless consumption. This will also help create positive feedback patterns, rather than scrolling aimlessly through automated content that an app feeds us.

This form of social media use can be especially valuable during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Using these apps as social tools rather than distractions allows us to stay connected with those we care about in an adaptive, healthy way.

5. Disconnect during downtime

When you’re not using social media, it's good to disconnect from it as much as possible. Apps are designed to constantly regain your attention and get you to spend as much time interacting with them as possible.

Little things like turning off notifications and plugging in your device away from your work/rest area will help you be more deliberate about your use and disconnect when you want to.

The focus should always be on whether your social media use is constructive or detrimental to your mental health. Using tactics like those mentioned in this article can help regulate your use and ensure you’re taking the right steps to avoid the adverse effects of social media.

Content source: https://headsupguys.org/use-social-media-improve-mental-health/