4 Tips For Having A More Mindful Relationship with Social Media

I have a love / hate relationship with social media. Obviously there’s lots that I love about social media and in particular instagram:

• I love the people I’ve met thanks to instagram!
• I’m SO grateful for the career opportunities I’ve had thanks to instagram
• Instagram gives me SO much inspiration for my apartment / blog / life.

But this little app can also send me into a really ugly jealousy spiral. It allows me to compare my life to that of others. Isn’t it crazy to think that once upon I time I had NO idea what everyone else’s apartment looked like? Now I’m like Ugh, I’m so jelly of  _____ ‘cuz her apartment looks so damn perfect and cute. Why doesn’t mine look like that?!

Ya know the feeling??

I personally am always challenging myself to use instagram (and social media) in a more mindful way rather than allowing myself to spin out of control with jealousy and comparison. I’m totally a work in progress when it comes to these tips, but here are some things I’m trying to do in order to have a more mindful relationship with social media:

Mute / Unfollow Accounts

Marie Kondo was onto something when she created her whole philosophy around the idea that if it doesn’t spark joy, get rid of it. The same can be said about your social media intake and the accounts you follow: Do these accounts spark joy? If not: unfollow. Or even put their stories on mute if you’re not ready to give them the ax.

This is super embarrassing to admit but sometimes I have to mute people on instagram stories if I feel like their stories are fucking with my own joy and I’m starting to feel some jealousy creep in. I’m not perfect and I’m certainly human. And sometimes I let other people’s successes or wins or engagement rings bring me down.

Also, I of course hope my own instagram brings you joy. It’s certainly my intention behind the content I create but if that’s not the case for you my feelings won’t be hurt if you have to press the unfollow. Seriously, I get it.

 

Move the app off your homepage

It’s super creepy but my thumb automatically makes its way to the instagram app after checking my email. I realized when I did my first social media detox a few years ago and had to keep telling my thumb “NO! Don’t do that.” I swear my thumb is magnetically attracted to the freaking instagram app.

One way to break that habit? Move your instagram app to somewhere totally random on your phone. It will help you realize every. single. time. you automatically go to open your app. Rather than opening the app out of habit, take a moment to challenge yourself to instead open the app out of intention: you actually want to scroll. You’re looking for inspiration. You’re trying to remember the name of that really cool fitness studio your friend posted about last week. Make it intentional, not an automatic reaction.

 

Take a social media detox

Speaking of social media detoxes: if you’ve never taken one before I highly recommend it. Your social media detox doesn’t have to be super crazy. Sometimes for me it’s as simple as spending 24 hours off instagram. But if you’re like me and are constantly checking the ‘gram and scrolling it’s worth taking even 24-hours away from social media.

For me I feel like it really challenges me to retrain my thumb and my brain from the impulse of constantly clicking on instagram.

I’m definitely overdue for another social media detox — maybe I’ll log off during part of my vacation later this month?

 

Create an intention around social media.

This one is a little woo-woo, but stay with me here. Consider creating an intention around social media and how you use the platforms. For me I remind myself that my intention is that I use social media as a way to uplift and inspire me. If I find that instagram is not doing that for me, I go through the things above: I unfollow people, I take a break, I retrain my brain to not just use instagram because I’m bored but for a particular reason.

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