The release of The Social Dilemma on Netflix once more pointed out the negatives of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. For us, it’s important to also recognize the positive effects of social media and use them to our advantage. As professionals, we spend the majority of our day on social media. Hearing from everywhere how bad that is, we can’t help but share with you our own experience and how scrolling through feeds all day long affects us. Everyone is unique and has their own way to cope. After deciding to write this article, we understood that both of us actually have very different approaches, but we both found a way to make social media beneficial.
Di: ”Social Media helped me focus on healthy practices”
I spend the majority of my time scrolling through photos, performing strategic actions – it’s exhausting. I feel the burn at the end of the day. The fast shift of attention that social media requires sometimes makes my brain catch on fire. It’s very stimulating and it feels like I’m constantly in a big noisy crowd. Trying to find balance and peace came naturally. In the search of relaxation, I found myself committed to healthy lifestyle, creative activities and impactful causes.
My ways to cope and experience the positive effects of social media
- Hobbies – To take my focus off social media, I turned to my hobbies. But this time I was actually more determined. If before I was doing simple guided meditations and basic yoga to keep my mind and body in shape, now I go for Tibetan Buddhist meditation and advanced yoga handstands. I pushed myself to excel in controlling my physical and emotional well-being.
- Helping others – I’m a big supporter of mental health and I’ve been educating myself for a long time. Eventually, I felt the urge to help people that suffer emotionally. Many of them feel the negative effects of social media. I joined Shout as a Crisis Volunteer. My role is to empower people when they feel overwhelmed. I often have conversations with people thinking about suicide and struggling to cope.
- Off the grid – Once the urgent tasks are done, I put away my phone and laptop for 5-6 hours straight to enjoy a conversation with the people I love. The lack of digital distractions surely made my time with others deeper, more meaningful and authentic. I’m more aware of the time I spend online and this makes me put away my devices more often.
I believe that the way to take the best out of social media is to first get fit mentally and build a strong emotional well-being. Once people manage to do so, the negative effects of social media would be gone. Social media came into our lives suddenly and it’s understandable that many of us struggle to find a balance. Pointing people’s attention in the right direction helps them develop coping mechanisms for dealing with the negative side of it all. Building a strong self is essential. Once that’s achieved, it’s easy to see how beneficial social media is.
Nika: ”From a zen person to a social media manager”
All my life I was a creator, designer, a person who takes their time to do things. I was slow! My life consisted of enjoying and prolonging everything. Going to work, taking my time to communicate every idea with my colleagues, then consider their opinions.
COVID-19 turned out to be my wake-up call. I finally realized the close relationship between social media and design. Content creation is so on demand right now that I decided to go for it. The new daily routine surely wasn’t anything I was familiar with.
In the virtual world of social media everything moves incredibly fast. Content must be not only beautiful, but perfect. After all, you have just a fraction of a second to grab the attention of that person scrolling through their feed.
But great design is not all that’s there to a successful social media account. There’s so much to do – gaining likes and comments, generating leads and correct targeting, all at once changed my brain chemistry. The obsession with social media began. Actually, I started developing addiction to my work.
”My brain has changed”
We get addicted, because we like the feeling. It’s a hormone cocktail that makes us feel high. It feels good when results come in quickly and it’s hard to just stop. We get back on the platform again and again. We log in once more, just to see how things have developed – check the popping up notification or a new DM. It gets very intense, very quickly. My brain got used to being highly stimulated in various aspects at the same time. I find myself bored if I do one thing. All of a sudden, I can’t just watch a TV show. Simultaneously, I feel the urge to do something else too. To keep my mind pre-occupied. It’s difficult to slow down my brain. Feeling like a different person, now that the dynamics of my brain has changed.
I was a meditation nut. Reading Osho’s books and exploring all types of meditation practices was in my daily routine. Now I can’t focus enough in order to slow down. I sometimes compare myself to a 9-year-old boy addicted to video games. All my attention goes to the virtual reality.
Coping mechanisms and positive effects of social media
I’m a Libra – we are all about maintaining balance. With time, I found my own way to take advantage of my new fast-paced brain. Here are a few tips:
- Don’t fight it – I gave in to the speed and I started doing everything fast and effectively. It’s actually very useful. I cook fast, I clean fast, my workouts got more speedy. After I do all this, somehow naturally I find myself relaxed and I get back to my normal state of mind
- Detach – After I wrap up my daily work, I detach from it emotionally. Knowing that I’ve done the best possible during my designated working hours, helps me feel worry-free. I then focus on my family, friends and activities I love.
- ASMR – I discovered relaxation in ASMR – auto sensory meridian response. This youtube channel is a perfect place to explore it and Emma is doing such a great job there
To sum up, I believe that social media could be a good brain exercise that increases potential. It’s a two-edged sword, but finding a healthy way to manage it, makes the whole thing very beneficial.
