Social media is a place where we can laugh, cry, connect, and simultaneously, feel emotionally and cognitively overloaded. This landscape can be a powerful tool to locate support groups, find local events, connect with family and friends, discover safe virtual spaces, and share personal growth and milestones.
Many things hold more than one truth at the same time.
On the other hand, it’s also possible that we overconsume, over-witness, and over-identify within the realm of social media—leaving us feeling completely…overwhelmed.
Checking In With Yourself
Take inventory of how you feel when watching a certain video, image, reviewing comments or reading a statement. Notice how your body takes in this information. There is so much more the brain is doing than we often realize. It not only perceives, but also processes and conceptualizes information, giving us signals about the world around us, our place in it, and what it all might mean.
This is why it’s important to intentionally check in with ourselves and regulate when needed.
Ways to Regulate Your Social Media Consumption
- Set limits on how much you scroll each day
- Identify when “doom scrolling” tends to happen for you (for example, before bed or first thing in the morning)
- Limit distressing or activating content
- Listen to music as a way to ground and reset
- Use the STOP method:
S – Stop
T – Take a full minute
O – Observe what’s happening internally
P – Proceed mindfully
Finding Balance
Find your own method of balancing consumption. It may feel difficult at first due to the habitual nature of social media, but the more you practice, the less wired we become to endlessly scroll.
Sometimes, disconnection creates space for a deeper connection—with ourselves.
