Social Media's Relationship with Mental Health
The transition into what we know as social media began with Myspace's debut in 2004 and has only progressed from there, becoming what we know in 2021. What began as a way to connect to friends and family has grown into so much more, and has developed alongside the cell phone as a majority of adults and teens in America use social media. While there can be benefits to social media, there are noted detriments that can greatly impact our mental health. With that said, there are many social media applications like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, etc. and we should take proper precautions while using them.

While in the moment of using social media can "feel good", due to the dopamine release while using it, this can lead to addiction. Beyond the addiction, social media use has also been linked to anxiety and depressions as well. Help protect yourself and your family from the potential downsides of extended social media use by implementing some of the actions listed below.
Healthy Relationship with Social Media
Social media use is rewarding, but can greatly impact how our mind works. You may find yourself unconsciously opening the social media app on your phone in any moment of downtime or feel a strong urge to look at your phone every time a notification comes through. This draw to social media and cell phones has been noted many times and you've most likely experienced it in your own life. Find some steps below to help yourself and your family with that addiction or budding addiction.

  • Designate Cell Phone Free Areas - You've almost certainly heard about putting down electronics a bit before bed in order to sleep better, but this recommendation helps beyond bedtime! By designating the kitchen table/meals as a cell phone free area, you can encourage your family to disconnect and have meaningful person-to-person conversations. This "real-life" interaction will help the family loosen the grip of the cell phone/social media on the familial unit, while also improving the family dynamics. You can extend these cell phone free areas to other parts of the house, such as not in bedrooms or put time constraints on them, such as no phones after 8:00pm. This may get some groans and push back, but will help your family in the long run if implemented.

  • Limit Notifications - A topic of conversation for years has been what kind of person are you, one that has a ton of unread notifications or one that clears everything all of the time. These notifications, especially the ones that have popped up over the last few years, help drive your need for dopamine. They remind you that you need to look at your phone, that social media application and before you know it... you've been scrolling for 10 minutes. A simple solution is to silence your phone, but this doesn't always work, as you can be overwhelmed by the number of notifications when you look again, leading you to spending the time clearing them out. A good solution is limiting the notifications that you receive on the daily by going into the notification settings and restricting the ones you don't want/need. The less times your phone goes off, the less time you spend being drawn to it and the social media apps it has.

  • Bring the Interactions to Real Life - Reducing your time online is a big proponent of good mental health. Think about the posts you see in a typical day on social media. Your neighbor complaining about a political talking point, tragic news that makes you question the way the world works, or the depiction of other's "perfect" lives while yours is a rough road... each of these common posts on social media can be mentally exhausting for you. Take the time you would be spending on social media and invest that into your day-to-day life. You'll get closer with friends, do things that you enjoy doing like working out or other hobbies, and most importantly live a life separate from social media/your cell phone.

These aren't all the solutions or tips to living a healthier life with social media/ cell phones, but it's a good start. Constant access to a vast network of people and overwhelming information can be counter-productive to the life we want to lead. Take a look at the extremely informative and helpful websites below and start your journey to better relationship with social media/ your cell phone!
Find More Health Resources Below
Whitemarsh Township Parks and Recreation |
610-828-7276 | parksandrecreation@whitemarshtwp.org