NoPanic

Tag: social media

  • How to Minimise the Link Between Social Media and Anxiety.

    By Hannah Parton, Content Team Contributor

    Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing ways in which social media can help for the better. It creates a feeling of community, support and connects the world together. Having said that, I feel it’s a double edged sword. Some great things come from using it, along with some not so great things. One of those not so great things is something we come to realise in recent years – the correlation between social media and anxiety.

    I spend at least a couple of hours on social media everyday, and for the most part, I do enjoy it. Having said this, I often find myself thinking things like, ‘Is social media making me feel anxious?’, ‘How has this post made me feel?’, ‘Is this content I’m consuming, doing more harm than good?’. Over time, I’ve noticed how this makes me feel quite anxious about how social media is impacting me negatively.

    It’s hard not to get caught up in the negative emotions connected to social media, when the reasons for using social media should be positive. Therefore, I’ve put together 3 things that I try to do to reduce the impact social media has on my anxiety.

    Take Breaks:

    Nowadays, we often feel like we have to check our phones, to keep up-to-date with the world. This can create an unhealthy connection when using social platforms. We feel forced to check the latest posts and news. This isn’t healthy or good for us. It makes us feel uneasy and can create an anxious attachment to social media and constantly checking our phones.

    To help combat this, one thing I try to implement into my life is taking regular screen breaks. For example, in the morning, I don’t check social media until I’ve finished getting ready for work. It can be so easy to check our phones first thing, but by not checking my phone, I don’t feel as anxious in the morning and can just focus on getting ready for the day – with little distractions.

    Another idea is that my partner and I, have no phones at the table during mealtimes. It gives us that break away from the screen and brings us back to the present moment. We have a much more meaningful meal, spending time together, and neither of us are focused on what’s happening elsewhere. 

    This concept may seem scary and impossible to do at first, but trust me, it’s a really beneficial way of having a break from news, posts or content that can make us feel negative and anxious.

    Select the Content You Want to See:

    Anything and everything is on social media in one way or another. Sometimes things can pop up on our feeds that we don’t want to see. It could be something that upsets us, something that we’re not interested in, or something that can be really triggering to us. 

    It’s super important to recognise the themes and content that impacts us negatively. Therefore, one thing I want to try to reduce this from occurring when I’m scrolling on social media, is by muting or blocking things from my feed. Whether it’s a person, page or topic that causes anxiety, worry or upset, I can try to reduce seeing it by doing this. 

    There’s No Need to Rush:

    In the entirety of human existence, we’re the only generations that are expected to be present or accessible 24/7, in one way or another. More often than not, nowadays it’s become normalised to have to respond to every text, comment or thing we see on social media, as soon as we see it. If not, we’ve been conditioned to feel guilty or rude if we don’t respond straight away. 

    In my opinion, I think this is bonkers. We’ve all got so many other things going on in our lives, that social media should not be anywhere near the top of our list of priorities – unless it’s part of your job aha. 

    We need to normalise not feeling forced to interact and respond to things on social media all day, everyday day. It isn’t healthy to focus on anything in life that much. If it’s important or necessary to respond to something, then that is different. But, dropping everything and making sure to like pictures on Instagram immediately is not something you should feel guilty for if you don’t do it. 

    My tip here is, if you don’t feel ready or want to respond to something straight away, then don’t. You don’t have to. Take your time and do it when you’re ready.

    I really hope these tips can help in one way or another, to reduce feeling anxious around using social media and to help create a healthy relationship with it. Give these ideas a go and see if they can help! 🙂

    All the best,

    Hannah Parton

  • Social Media and its Impact on Mental Health

    Millie Painter, Content Team Editor

    When facing mental health struggles such as anxiety, it is important not only to acknowledge coping strategies that improve mental wellbeing but also to identify detrimental factors that may be increasing feelings of anxiety.

    I have experienced anxiety for as long as I can remember. However, it was not until my teen years that I realised not everybody experiences these intense feelings of worry and dread. Having discovered this, I began to study Psychology in order to understand myself better and to find ways to alleviate these emotions to the best of my ability. From here, I engaged in many hobbies that I found extremely helpful when I was going through a bad time with my anxiety. On the contrary, I also noticed that certain situations would increase my anxiety. For me, a particularly adverse factor was social media. 

    I had downloaded Instagram at a young age and had always been aware of the pressures that come with such a platform. However, since I was young and impressionable, I wanted to be involved with my peers and so I pushed aside any adverse feelings I was experiencing. By the age of 15, I had become more aware of my struggles with anxiety and began to notice that the idea of posting on Instagram made my anxiety spike. I would sit for a while after posting, over-analysing myself and constantly feeling worried and dread for how I was being perceived. Shortly after truly recognising its negative impact on me, I made the decision to temporarily deactivate my account in order to test for any improvements in my mental health. I had always planned on reinstalling it so this just felt like a temporary fix. Quickly afterwards, however, I began to notice an improvement in my mood, as I felt less self-conscious and the lack of social pressures relieved certain aspects of my anxiety, particularly my social anxiety. After noticing this, I had no desire to reinstall the app and left it to delete itself (which is what it does after a year of inactivity). Five years on, I still have no social media despite texting platforms to communicate with family and friends. It is not something that I miss and I still believe deleting it was in the best interests for my mental health.

    As much as social media had a negative impact on my mental wellbeing, I do not believe that this will be something that helps everyone. For others, apps like instagram are very beneficial, giving them a platform to discuss their emotions and find others experiencing similar issues. I simply believe in the importance of recognising parts of your own life that are exacerbating any mental health struggles you may be facing.