Social Media and Mental Health
By Ashley Cook, Senior Account Manager @ Foodie Tribe
With an array of self-care tips, guides for improving mental health, and the constant cycle of your off-and-on-again “social media breaks,” it’s hard to stay on top of what is considered healthy and what’s simply trending.
In an attempt to test the theory “is it us, or is it social media,” we ran a not-so-scientific study in the hopes of improving how we perceive Influencer Marketing and mental health.
On October 10th, Mental Health Awareness Day, we selected a Foodie Tribe member to begin a month-long social media break (that member was me, Foodie Tribe Senior Account Manager, Ashley Cook). After that 30-day social hiatus (aside from partaking in the Instagram-required aspects of my job) we collectively asked ourselves a few questions:
Is it social media that’s harmful, or is it how people regulate it?
What steps can we take to balance the apparent need for social media in our lives, while maintaining proper distance?
What resources on social media can we collectively benefit from?
These are all seemingly valid thoughts that a lot of us tend to have. And for the sake of not giving advice we are not licensed to give, we answer these questions with a very large asterisk. That asterisk is the awareness that the characteristics that make or break our mental health like race, gender, socioeconomic class, and more all differ - which makes the pool of mental health resources so precariously, but beautifully large.
Let’s start with the introspection none of us necessarily want to have…
Is it social media that’s harmful, or is it how we regulate it?
Our opinion: everything is better in moderation. Excess of anything can be docked as unhealthy even if it’s something as beneficial as working out, meditating, etc. There are always ways to overdo what is healthy on paper.
Social Media Benefits: Social media can house an array of information and keep you involved in powerful social movements, or help you manage to stay in touch with friends and family. In our case, social media acts as a way to influence and inspire cooking and happily indulging in the world’s greatest gift, food.
Social Media Detriments: Instant gratification, disruptions in your sleep patterns, and easy access to toxic online environments.
How to regulate: Delete the Instagram App from your phone and only use it while on a Desktop, set timers for how long you prefer to spend time on social media, change default settings on social media apps for more privacy, clean out who you follow and remove anyone that makes you feel uncomfortable.
What steps can we take to balance the desire to keep social media in our lives, while maintaining proper distance?
Re-frame your hierarchy of needs: Figure out your core values, and how social media usage aligns with that!
Replace bad habits with healthy ones: Whenever you’re feeling tempted to scroll, instead use that time to create. Let your audience experience how you swap scrolling for meal preparation, recipe development, and photography. Storytelling can be a great motivator. Social media doesn’t always need to be swiping, but instead sharing!
Use social media for good: In times of solidarity, social media can be a way to provide support. Food Influencers do an especially good job of connecting on a cultural level that goes beyond differences. Cooking, creating, and sharing through a common interest despite our backgrounds is one example of connecting through social media!
What resources on social media can we collectively benefit from?
Below are a few resources that break the norm with their unapologetically honest and sincere content, all focused on the food industry and or body positivity/rebuilding food relationships.
Food organizations with positive-mental messages:
Food and/or lifestyle Influencers with positive-mental messages:
In summary, a social hiatus doesn’t always result in improved mental health. Those social breaks are often just swapped for other bad habits (i.e. binge-watching.) If there’s not a clear goal in mind, we’re unable to achieve what cannot be defined. The idea is not to equate proper mental health with no social media, as proper mental health is a non-linear road that makes up numerous habits and outside circumstances much larger than following your neighbor’s food recipes!
All in all, what we can do as consumers and also thought leaders in the influencer marketing space is continue to educate brands on how to invest in marketing decisions that are intentional and thoughtfully executed with mental health in mind!
By appealing to the nostalgic emotions of others, we can create with vulnerability and authenticity to bring forward more meaningful, and mentally sound, thought-provoking content!