Today is #worldmentalhealthday, mental health has or will affect everybody at some point in life so here at Social Amour, we wanted to give you some tips and tricks to making social media a happy place for you to go when you need a pick me up, and to prevent social media from harming your mental health in the first place!
Social media can be a very scary place for some, it can bring happiness and connections, but it can also bring sadness and comparison. In our era social media is impossible to shy away from, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter are everywhere, and we can guarantee that you probably are signed into one of those platforms right now. This is where this blog post comes in handy for you! We are going to give you 4 of our favourite tips to make social media a happy place for you.
1.
If you scroll through Instagram on a daily basis and feel pressured to look a certain way or look somewhat like the people that you follow, unfollow them! You might think it’s harmless to follow dozens of "aspirational" accounts on social media. But if you find yourself constantly falling down a comparison spiral, it may only be a matter of time before more serious effects manifest.
If you don’t like the idea of unfollowing someone, Instagram has a feature where you can hide people's stories and main grid posts, and they won't be notified. Alternatively, experiment with adding different types of bloggers or influencers to your social media feed to balance things out. Making sure you’re exposing yourself to different types of bodies, careers, and lifestyles can be a good reminder that not everyone’s life (or body) needs to (or should) look the same.
2.
Social media should not be causing you added stress in life. Your job might be busy and causing you some stress at times but social media should never do this. Instagram, TikTok etc are places for you to go to make new friends or for escapism, not to feel sad and stressed by. For example, maybe you feel overwhelmed by too many news channels firing out world news stories every day and it starts to make you anxious about the world, Take some time to go through the channels that you follow and ask yourself,
Are they all telling me the same news? Can I minimise this issue by unfollowing some?
Do I need to hear the news on social media or can I unfollow all these channels and watch the news on TV when I feel like I need to catch up?
Can I spot real news from fake news? (a huge issue we face these days)
These three questions can help you to minimise the stress caused by social media and gives you the opportunity to use social media as a release from stress rather than an addition to it.
3.
Within the last 10 years, social media has become such a big part of everyone’s lives and businesses, even ours here at Social Amour. At times we all need to take a step back to focus on ourselves and also to be present, it can help a lot of people to have a certain amount of time each day to come away from social media and to be present, in the moment. Nothing drastic needs to be done during this time but here are some ideas of what you can take away from an hour or two away from social media,
Self-care! Have a bath, do your hair, lay in bed, or take a walk (without your phone)
Don't take your phone to the loo with you!
Learn or continue a hobby! Go to the gym, start a new hobby, paint, read.
Spend time with friends or family without checking in on your phone.
Go for dinner.
Plan an activity! The cinema, something active, shopping.
These 6 things may just allow you some time to turn your phone off and switch your mind to something that you are excited about or something that you want to accomplish. This way your brain can be separated from your phone even just for a small amount of time during small everyday activities.
4.
Instagram is full of new-age influencers, famous people, sportsmen and women, Tv personalities and it's easy to forget that everything you see on Instagram is not all real! People are not super happy all the time, people don’t always look like how they did in that Instagram picture that they posted 3 weeks ago and even though all their posts may seem perfect on the outside that is not always the case. Do not feel like you need to post pictures every day, and do not feel like the pictures you post need to be perfect and airbrushed because they definitely don’t! Post that funny picture of you and your friends, post the unedited selfie you took, and post the picture of the sky when it looked pretty. You can post anything! That is what these apps were made for, they were made for originality, humour and personality and you should be able to show that through your social media posts.
We hope that these tips and tricks will help you to curate your own healthy and truly authentic social media page that brings you nothing but joy! We still want you to remember, and not just on world mental health day, to reach out to people if you feel as though you need help, and also reach out to those close to you and check up on the people that you love.
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