Focus more on the good than the bad.
Social media like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and probably a bunch of others I’m not thinking of, has become a nearly-unavoidable part of our lives. You know how powerful Twitter’s magnetism is? I don’t even have a Twitter account and I still check the Twitter trends every day. And the trends are almost always bad stuff, or even if they aren’t, you expect them to be. Every time I see the name of a famous person I like trending, it’s either their birthday, or they’ve committed some unspeakable crime. It gets to the point where all you can think about is how crummy everything is, and that’s no way to live your life.
Now, I know it’s a common counterargument to social media woes to just say “turn your phone off.” Obviously, you can’t just turn your phone off; without our phones, a lot of us would be out of a job. But while completely cutting yourself off from technology isn’t really feasible, it is possible to “redirect the flow,” as it were.
For one thing, almost all of the stuff I follow on my social media is just art and silly video game videos. I don’t follow news stuff, I don’t go hunting for spicy takes on current events, and if something looks like it’s going to generate drama, I just go elsewhere. Of course, I also don’t really post to social media, so perhaps I’m not the best test case.
Still, you can achieve a social media experience more relevant to the things that make you happy. You should try to be in the know about important events, but you can do that by just checking the news headlines once in the morning. Just get it out of the way and focus on good vibes for the rest of your day. You don’t have to live in the echo chamber 24/7, nor should you.
