How to Keep a Healthy Social Media Feed Amidst this Crisis

I’ve witnessed friends and families broken down due to this crisis. The media frenzy only worsens our fears. However, I’ve also seen people trying to nurse their mental state back to health.

On Instagram, people post fun Bingos and slum-book style questionnaires in their Stories. Then, there’s this famous Dalgona coffee that became famous in Tik Tok and is now taking over the internet. Ironically, they named it “the quarantine drink”! Speaking of Tik Tok, there are dance challenges that entertain young people. On Facebook, we’ve seen solidarity and helpfulness across the globe.

Now that we are aware of how social media greatly influences how we think, therefore influencing our behaviors and thoughts, how then, can we avoid hurting our mental health?

These are my tips.

1) Like or follow new or random pages that may interest you. Going with the flow of your feed recommendations may keep you stuck in a biased rut of views and interests. It’s wise to learn about useful new ideas as this could be helpful for ourselves, our families and communities.

2) Lookup for some fun posts. It could be cute animal videos or memes. Whatever tickles your fancy.

3) Check for news now and then. Subscribe only to credible and verified pages.

4) Unlike, unfollow, or snooze pages and friends’ posts that may be unhealthy for your mental health.

5) Prioritize what you want to see first.
Facebook has an option for prioritizing posts to show on your feed, from your top 30 pages.
Twitter has the “See Recent Tweets” option.
Instagram has the “notify me” option, to get the latest updates from your favorite profiles.

Once you’ll do this, you’ll gradually notice a healthy balance of posts on your feed. The trick is to confuse the algorithm or the AI of your social media accounts. This will avoid your social media to only show you the same interests in an extended period. Expanding our bubble is wise as it will help us grow as a person.

In the end, it all depends on you. It takes a great deal of awareness, discipline and personal responsibility to regulate what we consume. While we cannot deny the realities of this crisis, we always have a choice to recharge and take care of our mental health through what we consume.

Browser Bookmarks and Our Private Selves

I was organizing my bookmark mess in my Chrome browser when it unexpectedly brought me to walk down the memory lane. I realized it contained a lot of my past experiences, motivations, and plans. I can’t help but laugh at my self at some for its silliness and felt a bit morose for the rest. It revealed my plans to get out of my small town and work in a big city – which was fulfilled. It also contained my frustration on working with people I despised, how to deal with them and my consideration of not having to work with them at all. The latter, again, I successfully fulfilled. There are a couple of my plans that weren’t successful some of which I think I can pursue, the rest, I am not sure.

All of these also made me realize how so much of my private information is stored in my Google account, and how social media takes advantage of my data. I felt violated. But then I also agreed to it.

I have to be more mindful of my digital saves.

Wearing Your Digital Hearts on Your Digital Sleeves

I have been in a love and hate relationship with social media, the internet, and technology altogether. I think it has made most people feel anxious. How? Back when we were not yet expressing our thoughts openly and hide behind our screens, we were all just present and socializing. We learned to adjust and adapt to other personalities. This is not the case recently, at least in my experience. We have become so polarized. We even think everyone hates us or hates each other.

I remember back in time when – to avoid conflicts – we protect our thoughts, especially if our opinions were bold. We only share it with someone we know will understand. While social media made our skin thicker, and us, wiser and more careful, I think we should still learn how to protect ourselves. There are days when we can face everything all at once. Then there are days when things are just too much.

While we realized over the years that social media can be dangerous, we still have the control. We can block, unfollow, purposefully mess up the algorithm, be mindful of our scrolls and stops, have a phone for things we are comfortable sharing, have another for confidential transactions or communications, and so on. (And, of course, I am not talking about illegal things, mind you.)

We do not have to make our vulnerabilities apparent. We need to be really mindful of wearing our digital hearts on our digital sleeves. We still have to protect our thoughts, emotions and mental health. There is always a risk of being exploited. Different types of predators are still present – hovering and observing from afar. We are at risk of being exploited or manipulated. Identity theft, digital financial theft, anything out of spite, and so on can still happen. Technology has made it easier. So, my only advice is… Keep safe, guys.