Detoxing Your Social Media Feeds

Detoxing our social media feeds is essential in crafting overall wellbeing. It can be a bit tricky because not everything negative is obviously negative. Sometimes, the content we look at for advice and guidance can be negatively primed. The first step in creating a positively primed social media feed is to do an assessment. If you are taking in a lot of self-help, is the self-help you are reading and seeking out filled with negative assumptions? For example, this post is primed with the assumption that your social media consumption is making you feel less than happy. Is this assumption heavy? Does it spark negative self-talk? If so, stop reading the post and go consume something that makes you feel less heavy, and then come back to this post. This is my gentle way of sharing that all self-improvement content is negatively primed because it is focused on creating change. If you consume a great deal of self-improvement content, also give yourself time to apply the techniques and make the changes.

Most content requires understanding your absorption and processing time. If you process and move on quickly, then it is as simple as balancing your time. For example, for every negative post you consume, consume one positive post. Outrage and trauma increase views and make money for content creators. Every social media algorithm rewards creators for clicks and shows viewers the content they click on the most. This means looking beyond what’s suggested and searching for positive posts. I generally suggest searching the words “good news about” and then any topic that interests you. For example, a big doom-scrolling topic is climate change, but there is a lot of good news about efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Another trick is to look beyond your country’s borders. For example, search for “climate change Japan” and click on Japan’s plan to reduce emissions. Another trick is to search for “10 things I can do to stop…”.

There is a listicle for everything we can imagine and searching for steps we can take is empowering. If you enjoy commentary videos, look for creators who talk about things you do not care about that will not result in your having an emotional reaction. The same goes for blogs. Pick ones that do not touch on topics that are triggering. When beginning the process of teaching the algorithm to give you positively primed content, it is cumbersome, but in the long run it is worth it. Doing searches over the course of a few days and not clicking on negative content will allow you to have a positive feed. It is helpful to keep in mind that negative news is only one side of the story. There is as much good in the world as there is bad. If this feels unsatisfactory, think about donating your time to a cause that you care about and supporting content creators who are donating to causes you care about. This way, your very valuable views will be creating positive change in the world. I promise that you deserve to have peace of mind and can curate your feed so that the internet is a safe space.

Posted on Monday: 20 March, 2023