SOCIAL MEDIA

The link between health and social media is complex. On one hand, social media gives people a place to express themselves, seek inspiration, and access supportive communities. But at the same time, social media content may increase feelings of anxiety and depression. It's important to be mindful of the media you consume and how it impacts you.

INSTAGRAM TIPS

1. PROTECT YOUR SPACE

By switching to a private account, you can choose who follows you and views the photos and videos you share.

HOW TO: Tap "profile button" on the bottom right and then "options button". Scroll down to "Private Account" and move the slider to the right. The slider will turn blue once the account is private.

2. BE PICKY ABOUT SHARING

If you're excited to share something, but only want a select group of friends or followers to see, share it though Direct or Close Friends.

HOW TO: Instead of the main upload tool, click on the Instagram Direct icon in the top right corner and choose who to share it with. With Stories, you can select individual followers or groups to share with and you can identify a group of "Close Friends" to share any story with instead of posting publicly.

3. MUTE THE NOISE

It's okay if you need a break from someone you follow. Use "Mute" to hide their posts and simply unmute them when you want to see what they're up to again. They won't be notified you've muted them.

HOW TO: Tap the "..." menu in the corner of the post. You can choose whether to mute feed posts, story posts, or both from an account. You can also mute them by pressing and holding on a story in your tray or from a profile.

4. OWN YOUR FEED

If someone you follow makes you feel bad about yourself, it may be time to unfollow them. No notification is sent when you unfollow someone. Think of it as a small but powerful way to practice self-care.

HOW TO: Go to the profile of the person you'd like to unfollow and tap "Unfollow"

5. BLOCK NEGATIVITY

If someone is negatively impacting your experience, you can block them. When you block an account, they're never notified and can no longer view your posts or search for your Instagram account. You can unblock them at any time.

HOW TO: Tap "..." on their profile, then tap "Block".

6. CONTROL THE COMMENTS

Instagram automatically hides offensive comments on your post. There are also comment controls available that allow you to choose who comments on your posts and which words, phrases, and emojis you want filtered out.

HOW TO: You can find these tools in the "Comment Controls" section of the app settings. There, you can choose to allow comments from everyone, people you follow and those peoples followers, just the people you follow, or your followers. You can also turn off comments entirely from your posts.

7. LOOK OUT FOR OTHERS

If you see a post that makes you worry that someone might hurt themselves, know that you don't have to handle it alone. Let Instagram know about the post and the next time the person opens the app they will see a message commenting them to support resources. It is completely anonymous. You are not telling on someone; you are helping them access support and resources.

HOW TO: Tap "..." above the post, tap "Report", and select "It's Inappropriate>Self Injury".

8. SET LIMITS

The time you spend on Instagram should be positive and intentional. When you find you aren't getting as much joy from it, the "Activity Dashboard" give syou tools to help you set boundaries and manage the time you spend on the platform.

HOW TO: Go to "Settings" and tap "Your Activity". At the top of the page, you'll see a dashboard showing the average amount of time you spend on Instagram. Tap any bar to see your total time for that day. You can set a daily reminder to receive an alert when you've reached the amount of time you want to spend on Instagram for the day.

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