5 Ways to Secure your Mental Health whilst using Instagram

…..

Is this thing on?

*clears throat*

Goodday Everyone! and welcome to the first edition of Chav Talk.

In Today’s talk we shall be discussing Social Media and Mental Health.

We’re used to hearing about how horribly toxic social media can be and how it’s constantly damaging our mental health, by now this is public knowledge.

However, I’m not here to talk about that and make you feel guilty for using social media because for some of us it’s more than leisure and a hobby, for some of us it’s where most of our work comes from.

I always find that whenever the topic of social media comes up, it’s always something negative being said so now it’s like…

How can we use social media, (mainly here Instagram) but not destroy or damper our mental health?

….and now THAT’s what I’m here to help with!

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, psychiatrist or anything of that sort. What I am is a human who’s been through it and back and found my way of coping and wish to share my knowledge to who needs it

Now that’s said, lettuce get into it.

5 Ways to Secure/Protect your Mental Health on Instagram

#1 Follow what you want to see and not what you feel obligated to see.

Imma tell you somethng that may just blow your mind…

……you ready?

DID YOU KNOW, YOU CAN BE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE AND NOT HAVE THEM ON INSTAGRAM?

Shook right? I KNOW.

Sometimes we feel obligated or guilty because a friend follows us but we don’t follow them back or you unfollow a friend because maybe they’re posts may be triggering to you.

Friendship should NOT be dependent on a follow.

If your friend is constantly posting photos of someone that clearly has a negative reaction on you or negative memory attached to it and YOU KNOW it triggers you, why would you put yourself through that trauma constantly?

or

If you have OCD with what you enjoy on your feed and your friend only posts low quality memes, overly sexual images or they’re posts just don’t make sense and is just draining to you constantly.

Why would you put yourself through seeing that everyday when you know it clearly irritates you?

It’s quite okay to choose not to follow or to even unfollow someone off social media if what they post isn’t appealing or harming to you. It doesn’t mean you hate them or even dislike them one bit but you just want to limit what you expose yourself to AND THAT’S OKAY.

Oh! Also for the record it’s quite okay to mute a friend whose social media posts are slowly making you like them less.

Some people are performing for audiences that aren’t us and its part of their job but we don’t need to visit them at work.

– Adam J Kurtz

Please stop slowly killing yourself because you’re afraid to lose a friend on social media. It’s 2019, if your friend is kicking up because you unfollowed them or don’t follow them on Instagram…..that ain’t your friend.

Friendship is wayy more than that.

#2 Stop Checking your Likes every 5 minutes.

It’s very cool to post a photo and get 100 likes in 5 minutes and yes I know how it feels to have posted another photo but get 20 likes in the same 5 minutes and want to delete it right after.

However, we gotta realize that Likes does NOT mean Validation.

Stop looking for likes and comments to make you feel good about a photo that YOU posted.

DO YOU LIKE IT?

YES?

POST THAT SHIT.

(I’m secretly also speaking to myself because I still stay asking my friends for opinions on my own damn pics)

working on it tho.

Many of us might know by now that Instagram has already begun the process of removing the visibility of the likes counter unless it’s your own account and honestly, it’s probably gonna be best for ALL of us.

How many times have you feel pressured or felt less than because a photo you think is BOMB only gets 100 likes?

…. then your friend posting the same type of photo and they get 1000 and internally you’re like

Just a newsflash for you,

How great your photo is and how many likes it may get, most of the times doesn’t add up but I meannn, THAT’S FINE.

Yes, you feel a type of way and that’s also okay, you’re human b.

What’s not okay is holding back dope, different content that you REALLY want to post and only posting the same type of images because you feel that you gotta be naked/controversial to get the likes you think you deserve.

You do know, you are enough right?

Incase you didn’t remember lemme say it again.

YOU ARE ENOUGH.

You know what I do? I don’t check likes till days after.

I keep off that photo for as long as I can and if I do get comments I respond to them from the notification bar therefore I don’t put myself in the habit of looking at how many likes I get in 5 minutes and feeling less than when it doesn’t get as much as a previous post.

Trust me, it works.

You are more than your like count, please don’t hold back what you want to share. YOU DESERVE TO POST WHAT YOU WANT AND WE DESERVE YOUR CONTENT.

#3 Their personality is on Instagram, not their personal life.

This is something we often hear being said but Imma say it again..

We really need to stop looking at folks having nice things and living their best life and feeling less than because we aren’t in the spot to do such right now.

Your friend who lives away keeps posting photos of them in luxurious expensive things or they go to these different carnival trips and you stay at home beating up yourself because you’re the same age as them and not doing the same or can’t afford to do the same..

YOU DOOOO NOT KNOWWWWWWW, HOW AND WHAT THEY DID TO BE DOING ALL OF THIS.

You do not know if they either into illegal stuff or they work 5 side jobs just to afford to be happy on the road Carnival Tuesday.

All you see are the happy moments and a few snippets of their lives and you beating up yourself cause is not you?

Ya stressing yaself, giving yaself unnecessary stress pimples for whatttttt??

B, There’s alot of us out there who literally cry blood and tears daily, sleepless nights JUST for things to work out how we want it to and THAT’S WHY we are so happy posting it on Instagram.

Your time is coming! STOP comparing yourself to other folks especially when you ain’t never see them once post a struggle because why? they aren’t obligated to beloved.

The way one person gets a car and the way you get it are NEVER gonna be the same, your friend may get it today and you may get it 2 years from now.

Still a car right? Ya might even get a better one…YA NEVER KNOW! Spend the $2 and catch bus meanwhile man, you are fine!

Trust the process, work hard and IT WILL work out.

Nah watch no face, Nah envy nobody instagram.

Ya hear me? good.

#4 Know when you’ve had enough and don’t be afraid to take breaks

For me personally, I’m an ambivert and that basically means I have both extravert and introverted personality tendancies.

I have times when my social battery is on E and I KNOW I gotta take a break.

There’s nothing wrong with taking a few days off Instagram maybe even weeks. I’ve also seen folks take a whole year off Instagram.

Some of us take this Instagram engagement thing as a signed contract with Instagram so you feel that you can’t take a break because you’d lose your engagement and won’t be ‘popping” anymore.

THE GAG IS THO.. if you continue that cycle and you lose your mind and we lose you, then who’s gonna post? The folks you’re trying to get to see your posts everyday? Cause I’m here to tell you that life WILL go on after you’ve disappeared and some of them wont even care less and this is a very rough truth you gotta learn.

Taking breaks are very important.

There’s going to be days that you have no content to post and that’s quite fine!

Don’t let Instagram new algorithms make you feel as if you constantly have to be online posting things, especially if you know you aren’t okay.

Take some time off and make sure you GOOD.

Do others things that you love, go on a trip, go and refresh and reboot yourself without caring about what’s happening on Instagram cause trust me it WILL be there when you return.

Believe it or not your best content comes when you’re at your best so do what you gotta do to ensure you’re 100% ! Don’t force NUTTIN.

TAKE CARE OF YOU FIRST.

#5 HAVE. FUN.

If you aren’t having fun whilst using Instagram, you don’t need an account.

Instagram is meant to be a way of us being able to show aspects of our personality and share our fun and beautiful moments.

If you’re only sharing and posting content because you just want likes, validation and popularity…

Follow these simple instructions below:

Go into Instagram via the web

Click Edit your profile

Scroll to the bottom and select “Temporarily disable my account”

Enter ya password

Seek Help

PLEASE.

This ain’t for you, this aint what you need rn.

I get super excited to post my fun moments not out of validation but just because it’s just a true reflection of my vibe that I do enjoy sharing.

I’m a fun hoe ass clown on Instagram because I’m a fun hoe ass clown in real life

Instagram should be an outlet of you, not the version you think you should be.

Anytime you feel pressured to become a character that clearly is nowhere close to you or you feel stifled because you’re afraid to post things because of what others may say…. you’re doing something wrong and it’s time to start some self reflection.

REMEMBER, this is YOUR Instagram, not ya friend, not ya followers, not ya country.

IS YOURS, so have fun !

Use Instagram, doh let Instagram use you.

I hope these reminders helps you as much as it still helping me and please do feel free to let me know how YOU go about securing your mental health whilst using Social Media/Instagram.

We gotta be there for each other, so consider this my contribution.

You got this.

Till then, Stay Cool!

-Chavy