Have you ever found yourself stuck in the scroll hole of misery? Trawling through your FaceBook or Instagram feed and feeling like you’re spiralling downward into a cavernous pit of despair?
Do you ruthlessly blame Social Media for it’s unremitting portrayal of perfect bodies, lustful travels, relentless perfection, and so believe that everyone else is living their #bestlife whilst you sit around with unwashed hair and wearing an out of shape onesie?
What if I told you that it could all be your own fault and that you could fix it with the swipe of a finger?
I’m not saying that there is a magic wand that will suddenly turn you into Zandaya, or that you should detonate a grenade on your brand new iPhone X, but there is a way to influence what you are exposed to on a daily basis from the palm of your hand.
You may already be aware of, or indeed heard talk about FaceBook and Instagram “algorithms” but did you realise that these strange sounding calculations could be what are making you feel like a #loser in life?
You see most social media platforms use these algorithms to target what we see on our feed and recommended viewing. This is all based on your previous engagement, what you have liked or which hashtags you’ve followed.
Don’t you ever wonder why your feed is constantly full of the same content? Mine currently being funny cats and perfect looking smoothie bowls? If that’s what you have liked and viewed before, FaceBook and Instagram will give you more of the same until you are stuck in a cycle of seeing the same thing over and over again.
So how do you escape? That’s the easy part. You need to be more conscious about what you are engaging with. If you don’t want to be visually accosted relentlessly by beautiful sun kissed influencers in their latest bikini, whilst posing in the perfect mermaid pose atop a glorious mountain in wildest Butan, then don’t like or follow those stories. Try some new hashtags, the kind that will show you uplifting and inspirational content, rather than the same old dross each day.
The key to happiness and, in my opinion, world peace, is diversification. I mean diversification in all aspects of our lives even when it comes to social media. We think we are being diverse because we follow “Nubile sun-drenched Yoga Goddess travels thru Indonesia” and “Cats scared of cucumbers” but it’s not if we don’t curate into our feed other interests too.
So, try it, unfollow some of your usual feeds, try out some new diverse hashtags. Hopefully, this will bring more variety into your daily dose of social content and result in a happier more balanced you.
