3 Healthy Ways To Use Social Media

This is a topic I've never written about, but something I find to be extremely important to do in all of our lives. Every moment of the day, whether we want to admit it or not, we’re influenced by social media because of the effect it has on us. These three guidelines I've implemented have helped my mental clarity and attitude toward social media, which I hope can help others.

• How to Purge & Mute:

  • one of my favorite ways to quickly and successfully cleanse my social media is by doing a purge. On Facebook, I go through my friend list every year and start deleting (or unfollow) people I don't know or those who no longer serve me. My outlook is, if we saw each other on the street and would not say hi, then why are we friends on Facebook? Delete.

    As for Instagram, my favorite new tool is the mute button. The button allows us to still be each other’s followers, but we can now mute both their stories and posts. I like to do this with people I still want to check in on, but maybe their content no longer aligns with me. 

• Set Limits:

  • We set numerous boundaries for ourselves in everyday life, so why not do the same for our social media apps? Several months ago, Apple started sending its users a notification of our weekly screen time, both a blessing and a curse. We recognize we're spending too much time on our phones and need to change that and start living again.

    For IOS devices, go to settings, click screen time, then start playing around with their options: downtime (I set mine from Mon-Fri 10 PM - 7 AM, which silences all of my notifications during that period), app limits (mines set social media with 1hr and 20min every day, and once the time exceeds, it's not shy to let us know), communication limits, always allowed, and content & privacy restrictions.

• Content

  • Self-explanatory, but what we consume, we become. Almost everything in life influences our everyday actions and thoughts - our friends, family, the media, and social media. Social media, however, is the easiest trap to fall into for negative self-talk, and it's no surprise, which is why I've been making a conscious effort to follow content that inspires me. 

    After I do the steps above (purge and mute), I tailor my feed to focus primarily on motivational or inspiring content - for me, it's travel, motivational quotes, and people who actually inspire me. Stop following content that creates comparison and jealousy; remember, Instagram is a highlight reel.