When we use social media mindlessly, we can be pulled down a rabbit hole of wasted time that steals our alertness and calm. Learn how mindfulness can help you establish a healthier relationship with social media network.

7 Days of Mindfully Managing Social Media

Just One More Minute

It's natural to want to avoid unpleasant experiences, whether it's a thought, feeling, or a deadline that seems overwhelming or uninteresting. And our brains are incredibly adept to learning habits.

Just One More Minute...

Awareness

Curious Observation

Cognitive Flexibility

Attitudes of Mindfulness

Focus

Managing SPAM

In the same way that our social media can provide us with false information, our minds can do the same thing. Whether it is that our minds automatically believe the false information we come across, or that it is generating fake news in the form of our own thoughts, this can lead us to have a false understanding of ourselves, others, and the world we live in. It's becoming increasingly important to develop awareness that not everything that we read and think is true, without becoming cynical about it.

Research has recently shown that social media can help us reap some of the same benefits that more traditional forms of social connection can provide. These include a sense of belonging, reduced health risks, and increased positive mood. But in order to truly benefit from connection we need to actually be connecting with ourselves and others -we have to be present.

You're Connected, But Are You Connecting?

I Need A Phone Free Day

Always being on can lead to accumulating stress throughout the day without a much needed respite. While it's become the norm to be on day and night, this doesn't mean it is healthy. Consider the impact to your own stress level when you can't wrap up one part of your day and give your full attention to the next?  This always being on can over-stimulate our nervous systems and increase our stress. By adding in device breaks into our day, we can give ourselves a much needed respite.

I Need A Phone-Free Day

No Filter

There can be many reasons to present life as rosier than it is. A main reason is likely insecurity. A sense that we'll be better liked, more respected, have more doors opened if people think that things are going exceptionally well. But it can also be that we want to be experiencing that rosier life and feel some sense of sadness, anxiousness, regret or even anger when we say it how it actually is

#NoFilter

Is This Urgent

The expectation of immediate response, can lead us to engage in anxious habits when we do not hear back quickly, as well as perceive each incoming message as urgent and requiring our immediate attention. But are all messages actually urgent? Do they all need the same immediate attention from us, or from the person we sent them to? How can we deal with this immediacy habit? Learning to recognize that our expectations are a significant contributor to our stress is essential.

Is This Urgent?

Enhance Your Joy Connection

It's quite common to compare ourselves, or our life, to another's. However, we've never had so much opportunity to engage in social comparison as we do now with the constant of social media sharing how others are thinking and living. Social comparison can be a valuable wake up call if we are engaging in unhealthy behaviors, or if we are making big decisions based on incorrect information. We can also develop unhealthy habits of doubting our choices and devaluing ourselves as we compare ourselves to others. If you notice yourself feeling down, jealous, resentful, or less than when you compare yourself to others on social media, it can be helpful to pause and become curious if reaction has less to do with them and more to do with what's happening for you.

7 Days of Mindfully Managing Social Media

Categories