May is mental health awareness month, and right now I think we are all feeling the pressure.

For people like us, who work on social media all day, it can become mentally exhausting. It can sometimes feel daunting to use social platforms outside of work to stay up to date with digital trends, catch up with friends and have ‘fun’ online - the thing social media was supposed to be for. With the amount of information, news and Covid-19 related updates populating our feeds, it’s now more important than ever to find the time to turn off, spend time away from social media and find other things you enjoy.

We are now about to enter our fourth month since the outbreak in the UK, some of us who are lucky can still go outside for walks but many people can’t leave their home for health reasons and are turning to social media for comfort. Since the outbreak, Facebook and Instagram have seen a staggering 40% increase in usage. We have unfortunately also seen a spike in in people calling loneliness helplines.

For people like us who run a social media account, or business owners who spend a lot of time online, how can be proactively mindful of our own mental health during all of this?

I want to go through a few things I have been doing to minimise the impact on my own health.

Control Your Feed

This is something I have been doing for a while - I try to limit what I see on my feed. Many people follow hundreds, sometimes thousands of accounts that make it impossible to get to the end of your feed. On Instagram I only follow positive accounts, this sometimes means I unfollow people I actually know (I know, harsh) but its true; sometimes I don’t need to see Matilda by the pool, or Matilda eating a watermelon.

Use that Mute Button

I know for a fact people mute me… in fact, I think most people have. If you can’t bring yourself to unfollow Matilda, just mute her instead. Instagram and Facebook both offer you the option to Mute Posts and stories from people. You can even stop certain people from messaging you.

You can take this 1 step further by muting posts, comments and messages that contain certain words.

Social Media should add to your life, not take away from it

You control your social pages. If something is making you feel down, it’s your responsibility to take action. For me personally, I follow accounts that offer something to me - such as plant-based recipe pages or athlete’s I like. I try not to follow almost anyone ‘famous’ or ‘social media famous’ because most of the time they make you feel as if you are not achieving enough, don’t look a certain way or act a certain way.

Put your Phone Down

If you are like me and spend all day looking at a laptop or a phone, don’t spend all your free time doing it. I don’t store any social media apps on my own personal phone, I just don’t need to see it.

Your Phone, Your Space

Think about your home, think about the time you spent designing it, moving that plant, trying to put that TV on the wall. All so it feels like a happy and safe place. Why not treat your phone the same way?

Me telling you to put your phone down is all well-and-good but it’s not 1999 - you need your phone all the time. You can however still make it a safe place. I have filled my phone with yoga, fitness, food and other apps that are more productive. It also turns out more boring, so I just don’t go on my phone as much… every cloud.

Ask for Help

This is my final tip, never be ashamed to ask for help. It doesn’t matter if you are running accounts as a social media manager or just a passive user, your health matters. If you feel like you need help dealing with struggles brought in by the modern world ask a friend, ask a family member or reach out and call a helpline.

Stay Safe