Social media at its worst puts you in negative loops of comparing yourself to others and constantly exposes you to bad news. Social media at its best is a great way to keep in touch with people and discover new things.
Personally, I can name quite a few interests that I have developed over the years that I discovered through social media. These include specialty coffee, Formula 1 racing, cooking, and even whiskey.
However, it is very easy to fall into a negative loop with social media. Given the incentive for social media companies to optimize for engagement in order to drive traffic for ads, social media does not often have people’s best interests in mind. If you are not careful, it can take over your life. However, removing social media from your life is unreasonable and deprives you of the good side of social media.
I’ve found through personal experience over the years that these negative loops are primarily triggered by social media news feeds. Through trial and error I’ve landed on a few strategies for preventing these loops from occurring. Here is how I avoid falling into negative loops with social media.
Use a browser plugin to block the trending side bar.
Curate your list of who you follow. If they tend to post content that is negative and not constructive, unfollow them. Only follow people that put out quality content.
Use a browser plugin to block the home page.
Use Messenger for chats and avoid Facebook altogether if you can, as Facebook tends to emphasize negative content.
YouTube
Use a browser plugin to block the home page and recommendations.
Curate your list of subscribers and avoid creators that tend to produce click-bait content that does not provide value to you.