Do you have a healthy relationship with social media? With an endless amount of content circulating worldwide, it’s easy to get lost. Excessive time spent on social media can lead to sleep deprivation, low self-esteem, depression, cyberbullying, misinformation, and more. Practicing healthy habits when it comes to social media usage and protecting your mental health is more important now more than ever. Let’s outline a few tips on how to create boundaries and cultivate a healthy relationship when it comes to social media.

1. Manage Your Usage

• Reduce Your Screen Time – You can either use the tools in your phone settings to set screen time limits for apps, or you can use the app’s built-in features to set daily time limits.
• Turn Off Notifications – Stop the constant reminders, interruptions, and temptations to hop back on social media.
• Take Breaks – Disconnect from social media for a few days or weeks at a time, and reconnect with reality. This newfound extra time is a great opportunity to try new hobbies or try to form new habits and see how it affects your overall mood!
• Create Phone-Free Zones – Create spaces within your home to fully disconnect from phones or technology, so it’s less tempting to reach for it. Oftentimes we reach for our phone out of habit and proximity.

2. Handpick Your Feed

• Be Selective – Unfollow, block, or mute unhealthy accounts that bring you negativity.
• Focus on Positive Content – Follow more accounts that you find inspirational, motivational, and have an overall positive impact on your well-being. Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole of negative comments, keep scrolling!
• Be Honest with Yourself – How does social media truly make you feel after using it? It’s important to understand its impact in order to regulate your usage properly. Are you using social media intentionally or just endlessly doom scrolling to pass time? 
• Be Mindful of the Content You Share – Be a part of the solution, not the problem. Ask yourself if the content you are sharing is helpful, positive, or motivational, or if it will do more harm than good. Not all content needs to be shared over social media. 

3. Change Your Mindset

• Stop the Comparison – Remember that social media is a highlight reel and an unrealistic representation of people’s lives. 
• Be Authentic – Create and share content that resonates with you, not just what will get the most likes. 
• Nurture Your Friendships – Social media can be great for staying in touch with friends and family to maintain real connections with real people, but make sure they’re nurtured offline too. 

Social media can be a great tool for connecting with others, finding inspirations, learning new things, and so much more. However, it’s also important to learn how to cultivate a healthy relationship with social media and understand its impact on your well-being. Don’t forget to embrace the world in front of you, not just the one on your phone!