Spring Clean your Social
As I put pen to paper today, we’re heading for Spring. The mornings are getting lighter, the evenings are getting brighter. I love this time of year – the fresh start some of us struggle to make in January. Often those long, dark nights can lure us into the world of social media (SM), losing hours doom-scrolling Facebook, hooked to Insta-Reels or watching Tik-Tok videos till the early hours. I find myself wondering how this impacts our wellbeing.
Social
Lockdown was an interesting time. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wonders how we did it! Many people lent into SM to maintain their social interactions. Our children, teens in particular, relied on gaming platforms, Snapchat and other social channels to remain connected with their peers. SM is, without doubt, a fabulous tool to keep us connected, particularly with those far away, but for some, the combination of lockdown and the habit of connecting online has dissolved the desire to re-connect in-person. How has this lack of each other’s presence and energy impacted our social wellbeing?
Mental
SM provides all sorts of opportunities to learn, to grow and to improve. However it also risks us comparing our lives to other people…well, the bits of their lives they choose to showcase! The plague of ‘comparison-itis’ hits hard. We analyse and compare our families, our personal lives, our relationships, our health, our physique, our habits… everybody else on social media seems to have it nailed! Why is it only our family that’s so chaotic? Why is it we can’t lose weight when everyone else looks ‘shredded’? Why is it we are struggling to break free of the darkness when everyone else is so carefree and jolly? Why is it everybody else’s children are amazingly behaved? Why is everybody going on their dream holiday and we are skint?! Comparison-itis sucks! It’s NO good for our mental health…BUT that doesn’t mean the right SM can’t help us to tap into Apps that help us top up our spirit, calm down our mind, eat the right foods, track and reward our exercise efforts, feel grounded in our feet and warmer in our souls. We just need to look in the right places!
Physical
Inspiration through SM can be such a valuable thing but access so many sources of information, often contradictory, can render us confused, inert, even paralysed with over-analysis of our options. SM is also littered with popular ‘Influencers’, many of whom have very few relevant qualifications to support you and your needs. Credibility and qualification are hard to ascertain, but certainly shouldn’t be judged by their ‘likes’ or ‘follows’. We are drawn into choosing through popularity rather than profession.
In terms of our physical health, we know the hours scrolling a phone or tablet won’t help us reach our activity goals, but inspiration and motivation can be found, to ‘move like this’, ‘challenge yourself with that’, ‘take up this pastime’, ‘try dancing’, ‘get out walking’. Once again, SM can be a great way to connect, but perhaps we are better returning to more personal interactions to support our wellbeing journeys.
So, is it time to spring clean your relationship with your Social Media? Are you using it to its best effects? Or is it robbing you of valuable sleep as you scroll pointlessly into the night?! I hope it’s helping you stay supported, stay connected and helping you find the right people you really need.
As always if there’s any way we can help you here at Tip the Balance, get in touch using our links below.