5 Ways to use Social Media for your Mental Health

From data scandals, to depression, anxiety, and addiction, there are many reasons to stay off social media. Although some people are deleting their apps, over 4.5 Billion people now use a social platform. The average person spends around 2.5 hours a day scrolling through 300ft of mobile content, equivalent to the height of the Statue of Liberty. 

Since COVID-19 and global lockdowns, time spent on social media is inevitably increasing. Platforms are under pressure to regulate their content from fake news and hate speech as magnified in the recent ‘Social Dilemma’ Netflix documentary, which paints a dystopian picture of platforms gone too far.  What can we do about it? Despite efforts to moderate social platforms, and countless articles on using social media for your business, there are few guidelines on how to use these platforms for ourselves and our mental health. 

I’ve been working in the industry since the beginning of social media advertising and spent millions on campaigns for the world’s biggest brands. I’ve clocked up peak screen times above 6 hours a day for work and personal life, and inevitably felt the effects. To help, I’ve researched and developed key practices to have a healthier experience and relationship with social media. 

Research by The Royal Society for Public Health found social media to be as addictive as cigarettes and alcohol. In young people the negative factors included: anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep quality, and body image perceptions. Is social media really that bad for us? The same study by The Royal Society also found positive factors. It showed social media can make people feel more emotionally supported. People can connect more easily with loved ones and communicate with communities’ miles away, forging real relationships. The same platforms that can cause depression, can also be used for self-expression. So how can we use these platforms more beneficially? 

1: Self -Regulation: 

Never first thing in the morning or before bed. Turn your Notifications Off & Enjoy the Moment! 

We often check social media within five minutes of waking and last thing at night. Studies show this leads to poor sleep and intensified anxiety. I challenge you to stay off social media for at least 1 hour after you wake up and before bed. It makes a big difference to your quality or sleep and mental health.  

Another technique is to switch off push notifications. Key messaging apps like Whatsapp or iMessage may still need to be on, but Snap, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other social media apps don’t tend to need an emergency response. We check our phones more than 100 times a day, around once every 10mins. Constant pings and buzzings are an unnerving distraction we can live without.  

The latest updates on most social media platforms and smartphones track how much time you’re spending on social media to take control. Check and monitor your usage. If it’s more than 3 hours a day, it’s worth taking a break or limiting app usage. You’ll value your time on and off platforms much more.   

Social media is not just online, it’s weaved within our societies and real-life social interactions. Another key practice is when out with friends or family, regulate yourself from constantly checking all your apps and enjoy the present. Those dinners where everyone meets up, orders food, and then sits silently on social media can be stopped. It’s easy to get carried away, future projecting how many people will ‘Like’ our new post or comparing what we’re doing with other people. More than 250 people have died taking selfies since 2011. Sometimes it really is better to live for the moment. 

2: Curate Your Canvas 

Take control and curate your newsfeeds. When you first sign up to a platform it’s a blank canvas. The more types of content you engage with, the more you see it. By liking, commenting, clicking, sharing, following, messaging, and watching videos, you are sending signals to algorithms to show you more of this type of content, positive or negative.   

In 2014, Facebook conducted a study to tweak a test group’s newsfeed to see more negative content. Unsurprisingly the test clearly showed people felt worse off and were interacting in a more negative way. The study also proved it worked in reverse, and people felt happier when seeing more positive content. The good news is that newsfeeds can be tailored to see more of the content you enjoy and value.

The friend who constantly posts cryptic updates like ‘Worst day ever, so upset!’ only to find out there’s an avocado shortage, can be unfollowed or muted for a few weeks without unfriending them. You can always call or text to check up on them. 

Pages that clog up your newsfeed with annoying videos and clickbait headlines can also be hidden and unfollowed. Those irrelevant and irritating adverts can be opted out of. It is also worthwhile to delete your cookies once in a while. 

Try the Marie Kondo method for removing clutter from your feeds. The next piece of content you see, ask yourself, does this content “Spark joy?”  If not, get rid of it, and focus more on the content you find inspiring, educating, empowering, or entertaining. It will take a few minutes but will save you hours of wasted time and leave you with a more positive experience.  

3:  Social Enlightenment

Newsfeeds are designed by complex algorithms to keep us engaged and spending more time on platforms. You might open an app to message a friend, check your updates, or share a new post, and suddenly become sucked into the newsfeed vortex mindlessly consuming content forgetting your original intention. Social media is getting smarter, and we need to be more conscientious of what we are doing when on these platforms.

The next piece of content you post or engage with, ask yourself, why are you choosing this action? It could be posting to express yourself or spreading the word about an event or cause. Sometimes we’re just having fun and killing time, other times we’re building relationships and connecting with people or promoting a business. Whatever you do on social media, the more aware of how you use it and why, the more productive the experience. Have you ever closed an app, only to re-open it less than a minute later not knowing why? The next time you catch yourself doing that, question your intention before re-opening the app and be conscious of your time and actions.

4: Please Do Not Feed the Trolls. Do Good. 

Engage with trolls at your own risk.  In social media speak, a troll or hater baiter, is someone who purposefully says rude, hurtful, and mean things, often to people they don’t know whilst hiding behind a screen to spark a reaction. Attacking people on social media and having arguments that stir up emotions can be very addictive.

If you’re going to put yourself out there for the world to see, no matter how amazing you may be, there will always be someone to criticize you, and you need a thick skin and good social practices not to let them get to you. You can delete, block, or remove hurtful comments, or you can even spin them to positively empower you. Either way do not feed the troll's goal of wasting your time and bringing you down for their own self-satisfaction.  

Whether friend, celebrity, or influencer, launching a tirade at someone can have dramatic consequences. With at least three suicides linked to Love Island celebrities, the limelight filters are often an illusion. Even selfies showing people ‘living their best life’, you never know what someone else may be going through or feeling. Sometimes a kind comment instead of a callous one can help people when they need it most. Although negative content and comments spread more rapidly than positive ones, it is crucial to support each other and encourage a meaningful debate among differentiating opinions.

Discussion and debate are powerful, and dialogues on social media have encouraged positive real-world changes. However, it is easy to slip into binary opinions and descend into hurtful or threatening comments, the result of which has led to new legislation around Cyber Bullying. Before getting into a heated social debate, consider if the person is interested in a discussion or just baiting you with hate? 

5: See through the distorted sense of self and others #FakeNews

Question Everything. Anything can now be edited and manipulated to seem real. Those sensationalist articles preying on our innermost fears with shocking headlines are doing so to benefit from your clicks and comments. They drum up engagement and traffic to their websites to sell advertising space and products, and even change your way of thinking.    

Those perfect body photos have often been heavily curated, shot from multiple angles and edited before being uploaded. Not only do we edit our own image to our followers, but more impactfully, how we perceive ourselves through our profiles. Filters create a warped sense of who we are. An increase in plastic surgery requests in young people to look more like face filters and celebrities demonstrates the real impact the lens of social media has on the way we view ourselves. Most people only show off the best parts of their lives. You tend to see more happy couples on holiday, than family feuds, more fake smiles than mental breakdowns. We often compare ourselves to each other, but at least understand that what you are comparing yourself against is most likely a curated illusion.  

The effects of social media on our mental health are profound. They can be simultaneously positive and negative. The content we post and engage with can genuinely enrich our experiences and I hope these guidelines can help you harness more positive practices.