I read an article recently somewhere that said the average American spends 24 hours per week on their phone. When I read that and immediately said “WHAT!!!! No Way” and then shortly thereafter checked my IG feed 😉 So I really then thought about it later and wondered how that effects someones mental health.
I am one that loves tech. I grew up the daughter of a computer engineer, so tech has been in my life my entire life. However, when I sit and ponder that statistic, a whole day out of the week is looking at the phone, honestly it shocks me and not in a good way.
I know they constantly are doing mental health research on the effects of social media with regards to mood. I also have read that people who are on social media most of the time are typically more depressed which makes sense to me because if my head is buried in my screen chances are I’m not interacting with the world around me.
So I decided to write this to help those that are let’s be honest on the ‘Gram or FB too much and are not feeling that good about themselves. One can find motivation and inspiration from your social media feed. However, beware there are also posts, tweets or pics that can invoke a not so good mood in which you find yourself more depressed, anxious and angry. I have a few tips to help when one is feeling more negative than positive as a result of looking at their phone.
It’s All About Balance
Yes, they say “Life’s A Balance” and it is true. When life gets out of balance that is when people are at a higher risk for relapse. Whatever relapse means to you which could include drug and alcohol use, feeling depressed or anxious, feeling bad about yourself or getting back into the throes of an eating disorder.
Take a general look at the feeds or posts you generally see on whatever platform you are on. Consider are they the complainers, the people that are always updating you on how much their life sucks and this boyfriend/girlfriend did this or the completely obscure attention seeking “This has been the worst day ever” post which doesn’t explain why or even the beautiful models that has your head screaming inside “Geez I’m fat.” when you’re totally not.
Pause Those Negative Energy Vampires
As a counselor, I encourage people to look at who they are typically hanging around because “you are what you eat” per se. If you hang around or look at negativity all day, chances are you will be more negative and view your life more negatively. If you hang around more positive people and read more motivational and inspirational type posts, chances are you will have a more inspired, gratitude filled outlook on your life. What you put into your mind does affect your mood whether that be positive or negative. That is why it truly is all about balance.
For example, in my own life, if the negative Nancy’s (sorry any Nancy’s out there) or energy suckers are showing up too much I either unfollow them or the cool thing on Facebook is I can put them on a 30 day pause type function. They typically are extremely draining, and I find if I read or look at too much of that I do not feel inspired or motivated and pretty quickly my mood turns negative (poor mental health). The way I look at it in 30 days when they start showing up in the feed again if their mood/posts still appear negative I can quickly unfollow or pause again.
Ditch the News (Sorry Cable Company People)
So if you are one of those people that watch the news every day, consider how that effects your mood. For me, I had to ditch the cable and get a firestick. I do not watch the news and I typically say “I am happily, completely uninformed.” I do care about what is going on in the world but I feel I get enough news off social media or in my email already to feel “in the know”.
I was one of those watch the news everyday type of people to see the weather but found the longer the 30 minute program was on, the angrier and more depressed I became. What I found out was that I ended up not liking the area I lived in. This has happened a few times in moving around the country and I had to take a look at seriously the areas are not that bad and there is good in each location. However, at the time you would have thought those places were the worst ever to live in.
So for the past 4-5 years I have not watched the news aside from local stuff when hurricanes are coming through town but even with that I limit it because I found if I tuned in to the weather guy 24/7 before the storm, my fear/anxiety would kick into high gear waiting for the hurricane cone to shift and I found myself somewhat panicked feeling and like I must brave the crowds at Walmart to buy more water, batteries and bread even though I have a hurricane kit filled with plenty of supplies. It was complete panic irrational thoughts.
Key Take Aways
So the take away of this post is to ask yourself these questions: “How long am I on my phone each day? What am I reading or looking at each day? Are the posts more negative or positive?” and then make some changes for your mental health. Any depression, anxiety, thoughts of relapse will be minimized if you fill your mind with the right stuff, find tech balance and make small changes. You will find your recovery will stay more on track and filled with hope.
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