Protecting My Peace & My Mental Health On Social Media

After this feeling returned I had to look in my drafts and this blog post spoke to me, it perfectly described how I was feeling. I wondered why I hadn’t posted it? I mean other than the fact it was all over the place and wasn’t finished, I thought to myself this feeling keeps coming back and this post is relevant in a time when mental health and social media are becoming more of a connected conversation, so why not finish it and post it?

I have such mixed feelings towards social media and how it affects mental health. Part of me thinks it’s crazy how something like social media can make you question yourself, and another part of me is shaking myself like “sis you know better“. You know social media wasn’t created with our health and well-being in mind.

I also don’t want to sound like I’ve got some type of conspiracy theory, I just know that social media was created to be addictive and self-gratifying. It wasn’t created to give us a healthy and well-balanced view on ourselves and others, that is something we have to create within it, and even then it might still be a little swayed towards social norms.

Sis, you know better!

I guess my background and upbringing have a lot to do with it, my parents being very aware of the variety of ways outside influences are created to control you into either buying something or distracting you from reality. I don’t want to get too deep into this because I don’t want my blog to lock off  (I joke).

On a serious note, the message of “doing what’s right for you” is something I grew up hearing and is now something I live by. I ask myself how am I going to use social media to serve me and not let social media use me?

How I protect my peace and my mental health whilst navigating social media

Post and Go

There are already some great people who have mastered the art of “post and go“, however for us bloggers, creators, influencers and anyone else who finds themselves scrolling at 2 am on a Thursday “night“. Social media is somewhat a big deal and we may “need” it for our jobs.

So how do I use it without comparing myself to everyone, being triggering with every other post and/or desiring a life that has been choreographed and scripted?

At the moment I post when I want and have given myself 2½ hours for social media use a day, just because I don’t want to spend too long distracting myself from what is important. I am really trying to focus on my mental health and giving it all the attention and care it needs in order for me to put my time and energy into my passions.

Control what you see

You have to remember that you control what you see, of course some crazy wild tweets might slip through the cracks and your fav is probably problematic, but only time, a bored individual and old tweets will tell. However, you can still create a feed and an environment on social media that works for you, use the mute button, unfollow people if you have to and only go on their profile if you want to instead of being forced to see what they are doing 24/7.

My relationships with social media is not the healthiest, I keep going back, telling myself not to click on a page or a post knowing it will drive me crazy and yet I find myself on the post, ten posts deep wondering why my life is not as great as some stranger who is probably thinking the same thing about someone else.

I mute, unfollow and block whoever I want, at the end of the day it is me who will be dealing with the outcome, so I am purposefully creating a feed and space I want, a space that inspires me, and allows me to simply exist without triggering a quarter-life crisis every week.

• Instagram
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Spotify
• LinkedIn

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