Limiting Media Exposure Can Improve Your Mental Health
With all the scary and overwhelming things going on in the world, our social media and the news we are exposed to have been increasingly dire. This constant barrage of bad news surrounds us with negativity and can be very anxiety-provoking. To nurture a sense of control and calm in your day-to-day, it is important to take a step back and be aware of what we are exposing ourselves to. Here are some ways you can change your relationship with the online world to promote a better sense of well-being.
Limit your news intake. With all of the constant COVID-19 developments, and political uncertainty which accompanies it, it’s important that we don’t become hyper-focused on these. It’s important to stay informed, and know what is happening in your community and the world at large, but try limiting your news exposure to a set amount of time a day. Experiment with what feels like a good balance for you - how much time do you need to feel informed but not obsessed or anxious? For some people, this might be ten minutes of watching or scrolling, for others it may be an hour.
Make access more difficult. Charging your phone in another room, turning off notifications, or hiding apps in folders instead of on your front screen can help with the automatic inclination to pick up and check out what’s going on. If you feel so inclined, you could even delete the social media and news apps on your phone so you are forced to manually log in on a web browser. Anything that makes accessing these sources of stress less convenient or more time-consuming will help you to stop checking and scrolling mindlessly.
Unfollow sources of stress. Identify what is triggering feelings of stress or anxiety when you browse the internet. Is it political news? Is it COVID-specific news? Does it stress you out to see your friends not practicing social distancing? Whatever it might be, you can unfollow or mute the accounts that are causing these feelings. If you have a friend whose posts are bothering you, muting them will stop you from seeing their posts on your newsfeed, but they won't be notified that you have chosen to do so.
Schedule a news-free day. Every once in a while, it might be beneficial to log out of everything for the day and focus on being in the moment. Take a Sunday and fill it with activities that are nurturing. Maybe go hiking or read a good book. Take this day to feed your mind with calm and positivity to help bolster against the social media when you do get back to it.
It’s possible to stay informed of the latest without causing yourself undue stress. Reducing your social media and news intake can help to provide more balance in your life, and help you to enjoy your day-to-day a bit more.
Jessica Dubauskas