Social Media Detox: A Series of Digital Realizations (Section 2)

Sections:

1. Unfriend or unfollow with health on your mind, not malice in you heart.

2. Scroll with intent, not for escape.

3. Are you commenting to encourage or to deface?

4. Your social media is dynamic, don't be afraid to switch it up.

Scroll with intent, not for escape.

So get this, algorithms can help recognize patterns- and all social platforms are running some type of algorithm to bring you more content you like along with various other functions.

Now since you know there's always an algorithm at work lets put that awareness into action. If you're tired of seeing the news, or reading articles that get you down or just about ready to unfriend that one person who you never don't see a post from- algorithms can help you. Yes algorithms are for much more than hitting the numbers on TikTok and going viral across platforms.

Mindlessly scrolling through socials, and letting videos continue to auto-play in the background is doing nothing for you if you aren't intentional in your digital landscape. What you follow, like and look at is tracked and you will get more of those things as social media platforms and websites try to build a profile of you. Which is all fine and dandy until those patterns become inadvertently destructive. The FOMO (fear of missing out) of a night out, a missed vacation opportunity, an opportunity to compare yourself to someone who isn't you.

Sure it's lovely to see beach vacations, influencers having fun, celebrities living their lives but at what point does the surveillance of the world around us create a skewed image and expectation of the world around us. This is why how you scroll and what you engage with your social media is so important.

Double tap, heart, like, thumbs up what you want to see more of. If you're tired of seeing you're friends political views stop commenting on their posts and use a feature to give you a break. Find and follow your interests and hobbies, the memes that make you feel bright and light instead our sour and fragmented. Have an idea in mind of where your scrolling to, don't scroll to escape- scroll to discover. And if it gets to be overwhelming you are always allowed to check out. Deactivate accounts, turn off notifications, delete apps, take a break. You get to design your space and what you engage in. Don't let it become a chore. These social tools are at our disposal, we just have to watch how we use them.