How to Cultivate a Positive Social Media Feed
It’s no secret that social media can have a negative effect on all of our lives. Whether it’s comparing yourself to beautiful bloggers who seem to have it all under control, or seeing your ex’s new partner plastered all over his Instagram – social media can definitely bring up some bad feelings. However, social media is going nowhere fast, so it is now more important than ever that we learn to manage it properly. Here’s three easy steps you can take to make your social media feed a happier place:
The Mute Button
Ah, the mute button: a gift from the Insta gods. The mute button is a function on Instagram which allows you to remove certain people’s posts and stories from your timeline. Its perfect if you have someone in your life who can be quite negative or triggering in terms of what they post, but you might not want to unfollow them completely.
My advice: Go through your Instagram feed and see how many people’s posts make you feel unhappy, or that affect your self-esteem, and mute them. Instagram won’t let them know that you’ve muted them, and your feed will be looking more positive already!
Take Regular Breaks
We’ve all been there – you go online to check one little thing and an hour later you’re 24 weeks deep in that girl’s cousin’s mate’s account. While going on social media can be fun and a nice way to keep up with your pals, spending too much time online can really affect your self-esteem, as well as causing you to procrastinate on the other more important things you have to do.
My advice: make sure you take long breaks from your phone and do something that’ll boost your mood. This could mean doing that work you’ve been putting off, going for a walk or even just having a cuppa with your mam. Taking a break from your phone will allow you to clear your head from the often negative things we see circulating online. This is definitely something I’ll be trying to do more often.
Follow Positive Accounts
Now that you’ve muted the negative people, and you’ve taken a nice long break from your phone, its time to inject some positivity back into your feed. Contrary to popular belief, Instagram is not just full of models, influencers and fitspos. Although these people are fantastic at what they do, having them be the only people you see online can affect your self-esteem and self-worth. There are so many positive accounts online which are there to help educate and inspire people to live happier, more confident lives. Many of these come from the amazing body positivity movement, as well as other accounts which post positive quotes and stories.
My advice: look up hashtags about your interests – these could be related to arts, sports, makeup or dogs. There is truly an Instagram account for everything! Then, look up some key words like #positivity or #selflove. It sounds silly, but this a great way to find accounts which will fill your feed up with some self-love and care.
So, that’s it. Three easy ways to change your social media feed from being a place of endless drama and negativity to one of positivity, self-love and true pals. As Beth McColl says in her wonderful book, How to Come Alive Again, “Look – the internet and the media can be lazy and boring and SO predictable in the things it wants us to be. So go beyond it. Take control of it. Curate your online spaces to be beautifully open and diverse and inclusive. You won’t regret it, and it’ll teach you something everyday.”
Read More: How To Keep Yourself Safe Online
Have you any tips for cultivating a positive social media feed?