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Wellbeing Wednesday: modifying social media use to improve your mental health!
31 May 2023
- Did you know modifying social media use can improve your mental health?
Studies have found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day can result in significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems, and FOMO.
The good news is you don’t need to cut back on your social media use that drastically to see improvements to your mental health ... the same study found that just being more mindful of your social media use can have beneficial results on your mood and focus.
The following tips can help - Use an app to track how much time you spend on social media each day - then set a goal for how much you want to reduce it by.
- Turn off your phone at certain times of the day. - like when you’re driving, in a meeting, at the gym, having dinner, spending time with friends, or playing with your kids. Don’t take your phone with you to the bathroom!
- Don’t take your phone or tablet to bed - Turn devices off and leave them in another room overnight to charge.
- Disable social media notifications. - It’s hard to resist the constant buzzing, beeping, and dinging of your phone alerting you to new messages. Turning off notifications can help you regain control of your time and focus.
- Limit checks - If you compulsively check your phone every few minutes, wean yourself off by limiting your checks to once every 15 minutes. Then once every 30 minutes, then once an hour. There are apps that can automatically limit when you’re able to access your phone.
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selectability acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we provide services and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge those with lived experience and those who support and partner with us to improve mental wellbeing and prevent suicide across regional Queensland.
