Tuning out the toxic

Our brains are wired to tune into danger, negativity and fear. It served us well in ancient times when our survival depended on it. But despite our evolution over the centuries, this instinct is still there. It’s the reason we are so attuned to negative information, and it’s one of the drivers behind our social media algorithms having such a doom-and-gloom flavour to them.

Bad news sells

Our news consumption is no longer limited to the morning paper or evening news. With the news in our pockets, we’re bombarded with more information about the world than ever before. It’s important to remember that, to turn a profit, media outlets need more clicks and more readers. And it’s a proven fact that bad news sells, and the more sensational the headline, the greater the number of clicks. So, while it would be a lie to say the world is all sunshine and rainbows, things often aren’t as grim and dire as they are made out to be.

We do need to stay informed about the world around us, but there’s a big difference between being informed and being consumed by the news. If you can’t do anything to change the situation, and it’s bringing your mood down, there’s truly no need for you to immerse yourself in whatever’s happening – doing so isn’t going to improve things, it’s just going to make you feel worse.

So go ahead and check those news headlines, but try to keep it to once or twice a day. There’s no need to check each hour – the world isn’t that interesting, and if something big or important happens, you’ll hear about it soon enough anyway.

Social media

Thanks to the way social media algorithms work, posts and accounts that are designed to evoke strong emotions, especially outrage, fear or frustration, tend to rank higher in our feeds. This means that left unchecked, our social media platforms will feed us content that sends us down a doom spiral.

Thankfully though, we do have some control over what we see on social media. That’s where bloomscrolling comes in.

Just like the name suggests, bloomscrolling is the opposite of doomscrolling - where doomscrolling increases anxiety, bloomscrolling inspires calm. It involves filling your social media accounts with uplifting and positive content. The aim isn’t to tune out all negative information completely – it’s about finding a balance and keeping sight of the good happening around you. Think unusual animal friendships and feel-good stories, nature scenes and comedy clips. Just like everything in life, though, this is most effective when combined with offline activities that bring you joy, and in-person social connections.

It’s not about them, it’s about you

We all have our insecurities. And no matter the reason, the people in our online lives can often trigger us to feel inadequate. Whether that’s seeing their lavish purchases or annual overseas holiday photos that spark jealousy, or their happy smiley family photos that automatically remind you that while their child made them some bright artwork, your disgruntled teen refused to talk to you this morning.

If staying off social media is a bridge too far (we get it), you can instead keep them off your social feeds. Whether it’s a relative, an old colleague, someone you went to high school with, or that friend of a friend of a friend that you accidentally followed when scrolling two years ago, you can just go ahead and unfollow them. It’s not rude, it’s self-care.

So, consider this your permission to go ahead and remove those accounts from your feed that make you feel anything less than capable and worthy. It doesn’t have to mean they are doing anything wrong, it just means that their social presence in your life isn’t right for you at this time.

But won’t they know? Only if you want them to. If you unfollow someone on Instagram, they won’t be notified, but if they were to look at their list of followers and look for your name, they will see you are gone. If you’re worried about this, you can simply use the ‘Mute’ option. They will still see you listed as a follower, but you won’t see their posts and stories. Likewise, you can unfollow someone on Facebook while still remaining ‘friends’. This works just like the mute option on Instagram – only you will know that you don’t see their posts anymore.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or helpless, help is available. If you’d like support with your mental health, or just need someone to talk to, we’ve put together a range of contacts and resources for you.