It’s easy to fall into the mindless social media scroll, you click open your instagram or facebook feed innocently enough, and it begins. Before long, you find yourself bored, or worse, feeling left out and less than.
It’s not intentional, but we are unconsciously consuming so much content which only seems to leave us feeling bored and numb. All around us mental health diagnoses are skyrocketing and life seems to have lost the luster, light and color is once held.
There are more extreme ways to combat this problem like a cold turkey social media detox. I've done a few social media detoxes over the years and while I think they have a time and place, one practice that has enabled me to remain grounded in contentment instead of getting sucked into comparison is consuming with cognizance.
If you, like me, have found yourself slipping into the familiar territory of comparison and discontentment, here are a few practices to help you consume social media with a new cognizance.
1. Weed Out What Pops Up On Your Feed
If you are struggling in a certain area, body image, in relationships, infertility or miscarriage, or just in general being content with your own life, maybe it't time to weed out some of what's on your feed. Unfollow, snooze, and hide notifications for a season if the content flooding your feed is contributing to negative self image, causing you to feel less than and left out or triggering deep pain in your soul.
2. Set A Time Limit
So many of us are on social media for work or our businesses these days and the line between work and play can become gray. If you have to be on social media for work, then get on there and get to work. But when it's for play, set a time limit (a reasonable one) and be cognizant to stick to it so that you don't get sucked into the mindless scroll.
3. Check In With Your Soul
This one's a little woo woo but stop for a minute while you're on your social media feeds and mid-scroll, ask yourself "How so I feel? What do I think? and What do I need to do?" reflect on these questions in the midst of consuming and it will bring a new cognizance of your time on social media. These centers of our mind, heart & body have a lot to tell us about what we’re thinking, felling, and what we need to do if we pause long enough to acknowledge them and check in.
With social media such a part of our everyday lives, I don’t believe the goal is to be completely off of it, but bringing a new cognizance to it will help you engage in more intentional and meaningful ways while you are consuming it but even more so, with the real life that is happening around you.