Mindfulness and Social Media
I have been thinking about this topic a lot as my own interaction with social media, primarily Instagram, has increased significantly over the past year. It's a great place to go to see what's going on in my community, follow policy making organizations, admire the work of local entrepreneurs and find cooking inspiration to name a few. It's also a place where I can lose a lot of time and focus, and sometimes my perspective.
Too much "connection" through social media contributes to feelings of being less connected, or even disconnected from others and from ourselves. Interacting with social media does not have the same impact on our physiology as interaction with real people. In one study, the absence of sufficient connection with others was found to be as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And while we may be alone when we are using social media, we are not spending time with ourselves in a way that is beneficial, such as time spent meditating or walking in the woods. Learning to spend time alone in a way that calms our nervous system is an essential component of stress management and mental health.
Even a small amount of interaction with the staged images and captions on Instagram or Facebook can trigger our human tendency to compare ourselves to others, in a long list of categories. Appearance, business success, relationship quality, parenting ability, the appearance of our home.... it's very easy to start questioning whether we or the lives we are living are as great as everyone else's. This can be a very significant factor in anxiety and depression for no small number of people. In fact, mental health professionals generally agree that the presence of social media is one reason for the huge increase in anxiety disorders in young people especially.
But social media isn't all bad! Social media is a great tool. It helps us stay informed; connects people activating towards a common cause; provides inspiration and ideas and even helps us access other points of view. For small businesses especially, it's an essential communication tool that reaches their audience in a personal and meaningful manner. It's a matter of checking in and being honest with ourselves about how much time we are choosing to spend with it, and asking ourselves if that time is taking away from other interactions or activities that are important to us and our health. Being mindful.
There are two questions to ask yourself. One is whether your interaction with social media is having a negative impact on your self-esteem, causing you to compare yourself to others or contributing to anxiety. The other is whether the amount of time you are spending with social media is a factor in not having enough time to spend time with others or with yourself.
There are apps available that can help you assess the amount of time you are spending, and even provide you with alerts when you have reached the your self imposed limit. There are also some general guidelines that can help:
- Stop using social media within 30 minutes of bedtime. Even better? Ban electronics from the bedroom.
- Limit yourself to 1 or 2 platforms. People who use multiple platforms are more likely to experience problems such as depression and anxiety related to social media overload.
- Seek out face to face interactions on a regular basis. While face time chats with a friend who lives far away are a great way to keep in touch, there is nothing that replaces the benefit of face to face contact with people.
- Limit yourself to a certain amount of time on social media each day. Consider taking breaks on a regular basis.
- Check your self talk. Actively monitor your thoughts when you are scrolling through Instagram or looking at posts on Facebook- are you comparing your life to what you see in the highlights?
Finally, if you are a "leader" in the world of social media, consider helping others by addressing some of these issues. Post some more spontaneous photos or videos that aren't picture perfect. Sponsor social media "detox" days or weekends. There are people doing this already and it is very powerful.