Building an Online Self-Care Package
The online social world can be harsh. On one hand, it can expose you to a mass of resources and connections that you may not have been able to reach otherwise. On the other hand, it can expose you to content that you didn’t exactly seek out to see and in result, trigger negative feelings. Practicing healthy Internet and social media use always starts with the user, because each “online self-care package” is personalized to each individual’s Internet habits. No one knows the effects of social media on your mental health better than you; so a reflection period is critical to start practicing self-care online. I’d recommend keeping a journal or taking some notes for a few days to try and map out your online use. Record the platforms that you are using, the content you are consuming and the feelings you have when viewing this content. This will essentially allow you to see where the trigger content is, and you can then work towards combating that.
Once you have the list of trigger content, it is worth considering the effect of unfollowing or hiding this content from your online consumption habits. For example, unfollowing all of the fitness accounts that spark negative body image thoughts within you could be a simple solution. An online presence often tends to showcase only the most idealized version of one’s life. However, self-promotion invites comparison as others are constantly consuming these picture-perfect images. At times you do not even have to be following these accounts to see triggering content — a prime example is Instagram’s discover feed. If the negative emotions you feel when stumbling upon these idealized images in the feed overweighs the neat new content you find, it may be worth making an effort to stop looking at it.
Passive social media use is another concerning aspect of being online. Using social media with a conscious mindset, rather than out of procrastination or boredom purposes (which is extremely common among university students due to the overwhelming amount of pressures and stress faced during education), is key. A period of passively consuming content often passes to then dissolve into a feeling of regret for procrastinating. Passively viewing images can also trigger envy, loneliness (FOMO) or resentment without even knowing how you ended up on the platform. Another simple recommendation is monitoring your online use and making note of the amount of times you end up on the Internet just to pass time. Perhaps limiting your social media use to less than half an hour a day could not only free up time and end procrastination, but also downsize the negative effects on your mental health.
I think another important aspect of practicing self care online is to be an advocate for self-care. @tinycarebot is an online self-care tool manifested in a Twitter bot with over 70K followers. The bot spews out different self-care tweets when you tweet at it with the intention to “help you reconnect with yourself even if you can’t detach from the Internet”. This neat initiative essentially reminds you to take care of yourself before looking after your online self. It is initiatives like @tinycarebot that help to construct a supportive and open online environment that recognizes the potential negative effects of the Internet, and offer alternative strategies to deal with them. All in all, we need to be aware that living in the technologically advanced society of today is accompanied by the threat of Internet addiction. When you feel your online use beginning to take a toll on your mental health, just read a @tinycarebot tweet!
