The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we thought we would share our tips for managing your mental health online. With people using social media more and more, it’s crucial to balance your online activity with your own wellbeing not just in May, but for the rest of the year too.
Take back control. Your social media is your space, so if any accounts are having a negative impact on your mood or self-esteem, unfollow them. Have you done an audit of your friends lists recently? Having a spring clean means that you’ll only be sharing your updates with people you actually want to see them, and vice versa. It’s time to make your social feeds a positive place.
Similarly, if you’re fed up with seeing social media ads that are upsetting to you, you can do something about it! On Facebook and Instagram, you can choose to hide adverts from certain brands. Just click the menu on the advert itself and select ‘hide ad’ – simple! You can also do this to adverts on Twitter and other platforms.
It’s completely natural to compare your life with what you see online. But, it can be very damaging to your mental health. Generally speaking, individuals will only share the best bits of their days on social media – not the lows. Remember that there’s a very different reality outside of the Instagram squares for everyone, and making comparisons with what you see online can be harmful to your self-esteem and mental wellbeing.
This is one we say a lot, but it’s important! Switching off notifications helps your concentration and removes the temptation to constantly check your phone for new updates. Did you know that when you receive a social media notification it triggers a chemical reaction in your brain that makes you feel good? It’s too easy to become addicted. Turning off your notifications removes the instant reward of a like, comment or follow.
What if everything you saw on social media wasn’t ‘picture perfect’? Heavily edited, filtered and Photoshopped images are everywhere, especially so on Instagram, and contribute to a distorted idea of what’s ‘normal.’ Newsflash – no-one is perfect in real life! This quest for perfection is damaging to mental health, self-esteem and self-worth. We’ve made a pledge to drop the filter and use natural non-edited images of our team, why not do the same?
Easier said than done, we know – but even if you work in social, it’s possible to have regular technology or social media breaks. Switch off your phone on your days off and enjoy the freedom to experience life rather than view it through your phone camera lens. Leave your phone in another room or your bag while you work so you are not tempted to do a quick check (which turns into a mindless scroll.) Check notifications in batches at the end of the day rather than as they come in. Not only will you be more productive, you’ll feel better for it too.