Is social media impacting you in a negative way? Here is a checklist of questions it might be useful for us all to ask ourselves from time to time…
Are you spending more time on social media than you are interacting face-to-face? If you're on social media more than you’re talking to people in person, that might equal a problem. It may mean that you are becoming isolated or withdrawn. And when you are face-to-face with people, are you truly engaging with them or the activity you’re doing, or are you spending more of the time on social media? Either checking it, uploading photos, or taking up a lot of time taking the perfect photos.
Do you have time for self-reflection?
Do you ever have moments where you can sit and think, ‘how am I? How do I feel? What's going on in my life? How are my relationships? How's my day been?’ Or are you filling any reflective time with scrolling?
Are you comparing yourself to others online?
Are you constantly making sure that your life matches up to, or is better than somebody else's?
Are you distracted at school or at work?
Is social media taking up time that you need for other things?
Are you modifying your behaviour or taking part in dangerous/risky activities, in order to be able to upload them in order to get likes?
Are you receiving negative attention online?
Are you receiving negative, aggressive, damaging or harassing messages? Or simply messages/comments which cause you to feel bad about yourself? Are you being bullied?
Do you have worsening symptoms of anxiety or depression, or decreasing self-esteem?
Are your relationships ok?
This can be with your romantic partner, friends, family members, your children. Are you able to give your relationships enough time and enough attention?
What feeling does social media leave you with?
After you finish scrolling, after you finish looking or uploading or watching, what feeling are you left with? Is it a positive feeling? Is it an anxious or a difficult feeling? Notice what feeling it leaves you with - that tells us a lot about how it's impacting you.
Suzie Booth
Counsellor MBACP.
#mentalhealth #counselling #psychotherapy #psychology #wellbeing #health #educateyourself #thementalhealthbooth #socialmedia #instagram #facebook #tiktok #whatsapp #snapchat #twitter
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