Spring Cleaning: Social Media Edition

Spring is the time of growth, renewal, refreshing, and new beginnings. 

The concept of spring cleaning is something widely known and talked about. This usually looks like paying attention to things we don’t normally pay attention to or doing those once or twice a year tasks (like cleaning out the dryer vent or hard to reach areas). 

Let’s take the concept of spring cleaning into the mental health arena. Here are some ideas for refreshing our social media engagement that may positively impact mental health:

 1. Social media cleansing- Take a scroll through your social media accounts and be aware of how you feel as you take in information. What do you notice? What emotions come up? What kind of thoughts come up? What do you feel in your body? Take note of the posts/ pages/ themes that bring up negative thoughts, emotions, or feelings in your body. Ask yourself, “are these thoughts, emotions, and/or feelings helpful to my mental health?” And “is this page/person’s content in alignment with my values?” If the answer is no, it may be time to refresh your feed by unfollowing these sources. 

2. Social media additions- Is there anything missing from your feed that you’d like to be taking in on a daily basis? Ask yourself “what am I passionate about? Am I seeing this kind of information?” Or “what causes/views/content fit my values? Are these represented in my feed?” If the answer is no, search for pages that focus on these areas or ask a friend for recommendations! 

Here are some ideas- Pages that focus on:

Mental Health (like @bridgingharts on IG and Bridging Harts on Facebook!)

Body neutrality/ positivity

Affirmations

World news

Activists

Food (especially those that align with your view/beliefs on food)

Music

Your hobbies (for me that looks like pages devoted to hiking/outdoors/conservation)

 3. Time spent on social media- How much time are you spending on social media per week? Take a look at your screen time. If you notice that you’ve spent more time than you intended or would like to try spending less time on social media, here are some ideas:

1. Set an app restriction for social media apps you’d like to spend less time on. Pick an allowance of time on the app (ex., 1 hour or 30 minutes a day) and your phone can let you know when time is up!
2. Set restrictions for the time of day you’re able to access apps (ex. Using the app between 10 am and 10pm or only using the app until 8 pm)
3. Swap using your phone at bedtime to reading a book.
4. Want to try something radical? Try deleting social media apps for a certain number of days (ex. 7 days or even a month) and see how you feel!