Social media has always been an integral part of our life. Our best days to not so good become a part of others’ lives by sharing it on a platform where you have followers who love you, criticize you or maybe envy of you. Maintaining a healthy relationship with social media is a vital part of our lives since much of it is governed by social media apparently. So how to maintain a healthy relationship with social media? How much is too much? How much is okay? And how much is needed? and most importantly, how not let it affect our mental health? For that, we need to formulate our relationship with social media differently and regulate it by adopting some habits that would help us in a long way.
Be it social media like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or Twitter, we all have been the culprit of scrolling endlessly through not so meaningful content. What’s a better way to spend time in a boring lecture than to scroll through the endless post on your Instagram. Stalking strangers. Swooning on all the beauties and food of the world and wishing and thinking at the same time that why my life is not like this. Social media has become a mirage of happiness. Whereas life has all shades of emotion in it, social media only show all the rainbow and sunshine part of one’s life. But how healthy it is? It’s a question within a question. Doesn’t so much happiness and perfection of others’ life overwhelm you? And you start questioning your own life, which seems boring and monotonous.
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Despite all the positive things, social media offers. There is a side of it which is all grey and black. The effect it has on a person’s mental health. Too much of anything has a negative effect. So does social media. Scrolling through our feed throughout the day ought to make a person more frustrated than content. How many times you have wanted to deactivate your account or to ‘take a break’ from social media? Well, even if once then it’s your brain saying enough of all the glitz and glimmer that social media has to offer. Everyone needs peace, even your brain.
So, how not to get swayed by the omnipresence of social media. How not to let it overwhelm us. For that, some habits need to be undertaken. These habits are not the shield between you and the social media. Rather they are the baby steps to maintain a cordial relationship with social media.
Use your phone just to snooze the alarm in the morning
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Do you use your phone? If yes, then STOP! yes, that is the first step you have to take to ensure the serenity your brain needs. Biology has taught us enough to know that our brain takes a while to wake up even after we wake up from asleep. So, imagine you getting bombarded with too much information as soon as you wake up. You’ll run for the hills. Don’t do that same thing with your brain. Keep your mind relaxed and have breakfast. Register all the things happening around and then use your phone. but not too much.
Try monitoring your Screentime
The second step one could take is keeping a tab on screentime. Knowing how much you are spending your time on a particular social media is a good way to curtail your time and use it more productively.
Shut those Notifications
How not to get distracted from all the information you are missing out is where your third step comes. TURN OFF THE NOTIFICATIONS ALERTS! You won’t know. You won’t see it. This is as simple as that. By being constantly pinged by the millions of activities going on in your social media account doesn’t help anyone. Stop them by this one simple step.
When Whatsapp groups ain’t doing any good to you.
The fourth step is as simple as you muting that unnecessary WhatsApp group you are a part of but can’t leave. So you MUTE. Mute all the unnecessary noise from your social media. Unfollow people that makes you feel even slightly uncomfortable. And create a safe space for your mental health even on your social media.
Social Media is not a life. It’s a part of it. And that’s the most important thing one needs to understand. Your mental health comes first. And the rest of it later, even the last selfie or snap you took. Not everything needs to be out there. Live in the moment, not in stories or posts.
There is always a middle ground between two extremes, let’s find it and make a house there so that you enjoy living in the era of technology. And also enjoy what’s the world has to offer but not at the expense of your mental health.
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