We have heard it time and time again: Social media is not good for our mental health. But it’s not that simple. As a generation, we have found more ways to make social media part of our social existence, and we have grown to depend on our feeds for camaraderie, information, and validation. Some people find community through social media, which can be good for mental health.
“There is a lot of conflicting research,” says clinical psychologist Alexandra Hamlet, who specializes in mood disorders at New York City’s Child Mind Institute. “Some say that with the inception of the iPhone, there was a correlation with the rise of depression, which may be correlational, not causational, right?”
Regardless of the science, we might be able to agree that social media can sometimes feel taxing on our mental health. Just like Marie Kondo advocates for cleaner, less-cluttered spaces to spark joy, we can apply that philosophy to our social media. The viral KonMari method is the act of taking a moment to stop, look around, and think intentionally about your physical space, including only what makes you happy. And, decluttering physical spaces is proven to have positive mental health effects. So, what if we expanded this practice to our online spaces? It’s time to be mindful of how we navigate, organize, and live in the little corner of the Internet where we house our online selves.
According to Hamlet, there are three key areas where social media can really start to erode someone's mental health: pressure, drama, and comparison.
Hamlet defines pressure as “the feeling of needing to go on vacation just to post something,” or the pressure to portray your life in an idealized way. “What I like to call drama,” she explains, “is feeling the need to say something as a way of getting back at someone, or making it a little bit toxic in that sense.” Comparison, Hamlet says, is when you compare yourself “to peers and celebrities on social media, not understanding what was filtered, what the context was for the picture, if there was nothing else really going on for the rest of the day, if the person was actually having as much fun as they look.”
Those things, combined with the way getting attention on social media can make us feel, might cause a problem. “We know that notifications send dopamine to the brain,” Hamlet says, “which isn't a horrible thing, there are way less prosocial ways to get dopamine.” However, when our emotions are dictated by the appearance of a follow or a like, Hamlet says, “that makes us feel like the app is in control.”
Instagram creates a paradigm by which popularity, friendship, and validation are quantifiable, and likes, comments, and follows become social currency. Brazilian artist Marcela Sabiá, founder of the page @marcelailustra, has gained a large following for drawing body-positive and inclusive art.
“I think people are shaping their self-image primarily through social media numbers,” Sabiá tells Teen Vogue. Cleaning up your social media usage habits will allow you to prioritize your “offline life,” as Sabiá says, and find validation in real-life activities.
So, how exactly can you figure out what needs clearing out and what “sparks joy” on your social feed? According to Hamlet, the way we gauge joy on social media is a little different than the feeling Marie Kondo tries to capture on her Netflix show.
“If you value as a human being knowledge, seeking information, and contributing to a large story or political topic of issue, then that is an inadvertent form of joy,” she says. “There is no part of life that says it should be joyful all the time, but ultimately if the benefit of engaging politically in something you value will bring you joy, it is still a kind of joy, it's just not as literal.”