The Social Media Dilemma

Why did I choose this topic to be my very first blog post you might ask? Let me tell you why. Social media has become a full on addiction for many people. How does this tie into health & wellness though? Well, for starters, we have become attached to those little dopamine hits our brain gets every time we click on that social media app. Want to know what happens after we're done? That dopamine hit crashes and burns, leaving many of us feeling sad, bored and often times anxiety ridden. It's no wonder that more than 37 million Americans are on a SSRI drug to help combat the crippling anxiety and depression that so many of us face on a daily basis. Having access to a tiny screen that dings, beeps and beckons us to see what all our social media "friends" are doing on an hourly basis has really done a doozy on both our nervous system and limbic system. We have quite literally trained our brains to need constant connection to the world we live in. Our brains were not made to receive a continuous flow information and blue light coming at us at all hours of the day. Excessive blue light not only can age your skin faster but also it can disrupt your circadian rhythms allowing you to not reach optimal sleep that every person needs on a nightly basis.

Not only that, but so many of our children are receiving iPhones as young as 8 years old (who knows maybe even younger!) to be released into the world that is inundated with social media, YouTube, the black hole that is the internet, on and on...A human's prefrontal cortex, which is the front section of your brain that controls thoughts, emotions and actions doesn't fully develop until the age of 25. So, in turn we are giving our children these devices that they truly are not mentally prepared for and we wonder why so many of these adolescents are depressed and full of self doubt, worry and impulsive behaviors. The comparison game alone is enough to throw anyone into a cycle of negative self talk and self worth.

Time To Make A Plan

Coming from someone who often times has an all or nothing mentality, I'm here to tell you that it's okay NOT to have this mindset with social media. With anything in life, boundaries are an important component to living joyfully and freely. We have to remember that social media was originally created to make connections with friends, family and other people around the globe. It's a great way to keep up-to-date with those we may not get to see on a regular basis. Not only that, but so many businesses run their services through these social media platforms making it a great way to advertise for free in most situations.

BUT, you have to make a plan. I am a firm believer that making a plan for most situations in life will allow you to have more success in the long run, social media not being an exception. What I will not be doing is giving you a step by step plan on how to use social media but I am here to provide you with a couple of key guidelines and tips to get you started.

1. Make a plan for when you will get on social media. I honestly suggest doing a full "detox" first where you choose a certain amount of time to stay completely off. Recently, for me that was for 2 weeks. For some of my friends it has been a year with no return date. Everyone is different. Maybe your plan will be to get on once a week, maybe once a day. This is the time to really pay attention to how your body feels when you click on that app. TRULY LISTEN. Does your body feel good when you are back on the social apps, do you feel a tad bit of anxiety? Or dread? It really does matter.

2. The second step to your social media plan is to weed out the people that no longer serve you as a person. Now, I know this can come off a bit harsh but hear me out. I guarantee you, there are at least a few people you met along the way and haven't talked to them since becoming "friends" on social media. This is mental clutter. Scrolling over and over really not paying attention to what's on your screen is merely taking over your brain space that quite honestly, you're going to need at some point in your day. The mental fatigue that ensues from social media alone is REAL and happens to most.

3. The minute I started treating social media as a resource, my perspective and the way I started using it completely changed. This may not be for everyone, but instead of having one main Instagram account, I divided accounts into different categories. For example, some of my hobbies include, health & wellness (or career), fashion, home decor, and fun crafts & activities for my kiddos. I made a separate account for each of these hobbies. That way, I wasn't completely overwhelmed with 1,000 accounts on my main page. If I'm in the mood to research home decor then I just hop on over to my decor page and find what I'm looking for. If I need a new outfit, I go to my fashion page and look for something I might love to buy and wear. This really does help with the mental fatigue I mentioned above.

4. Finally, knowing when to take a break is likely the most important part of the plan. Listen to your body cues. Your body will likely tell you when it's time to take a step back from all things social media.

Let me know your thoughts! Do you feel like creating a social media plan would be beneficial for you?

Resources:

Book Resources:

Disconnected: How To Reconnect Our Digitally Distracted Kids https://a.co/d/2x8WlTG Dopamine Detox: A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Get Your Brain to Do Hard Things (Productivity Series) https://a.co/d/cjPYaLv Disconnected: How to Protect Your Kids from the Harmful Effects of Device Dependency https://a.co/d/eLjr8OX Wired Child: Reclaiming Childhood in a Digital Age https://a.co/d/7XNDl2G

PubMed Articles: The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities - PubMed nlm.nih.gov Potential of social media in promoting mental health in adolescents - PubMed nlm.nih.gov Influence of social media on mental health: a systematic review - PubMed nlm.nih.gov