Article By Ann Porter // Social Media // EEW Magazine Online

Though social media can have massive benefits in terms of promoting good causes, marketing helpful services, supporting charitable organizations, uplifting others, and bringing awareness to important issues, it can also have a dark side.

Many negative things are promoted online, and you can easily find yourself connected to unsavory characters—something you must be intentional about avoiding. While God is in control of the universe, you are in control of your social media activity and must do all you can to monitor your habits so you can protect your peace.

Sometimes, we do things that undermine our own health and wholeness but simply do not recognize it—like spend inordinate amounts of time mindlessly scrolling online.

But did you know that according to the American Psychiatric Association, excessive use of social media can have a negative impact on your mental health? There are myriad scholarly studies that exist which directly link online behaviors to higher incidences of depression and anxiety.

Even if you, like so many others, are aware of this, few take these studies seriously and amend their ways. Ignore them at your own risk but know that choosing to ignore evidence-based conclusions about social media can be damaging to your mental health.

Since you clicked on this article, it is safe to say that you are interested in ways to be a better guardian of your peace and serenity on the Internet which is a great thing to do.

Here are EEW Magazine Online’s 5 practical strategies to help you protect your peace online.

#1 Mind who you follow. Whoever you follow can show up in your social media feed at any time of day depending on what the online algorithm chooses to promote. Instead of leaving your peace at the mercy of a random computer data processing system, be proactive by unfollowing, muting, or even blocking the people that keep your timeline cluttered with junk, annoyances, and things that don’t edify your spirit.

Keep in mind that you also don’t have to play their videos or engage with any of their content. The choice is truly yours. You have the power to reject what is unhealthy for you—and you must use that power if you want to be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy.

#2 Mind your own business. The desperate need to know what’s going on in someone else’s life can lead you down a destructive road online. Why are there so many busybodies on the Internet? Who knows? But you don’t have to be one of them. Choose not to spend your invaluable time following gossip, hate-watching those who trigger you, or even being a drama chaser always digging up someone else’s dirt. How does that serve you anyway? It doesn’t.

What it does do, however, is keep your thoughts chaotic and your head filled with nonsense. Further, behaving in this manner stops you from working on yourself, your relationship with God, and your personal goals. Not doing these important things will surely leave your mental health in shambles.

#3 Spend less time stargazing. What now feels like ions ago, celebrities were inaccessible to the masses. We could only capture small glimpses of them when they showed up on television, in movies, or on the pages of our favorite glossy magazines. But it’s a new day thanks to social media, and stars are a single click away. We can even engage with them should they choose to respond to our comments.

While on its face, this seems like a good thing, without discipline, you will be unhealthily immersed in the lives of your favorite celebrities and spending hours stargazing. This has the potential to lead to envy, comparison, and personal unproductivity due to an obsession with people-watching. Over time, stargazing can disrupt work-life balance, tank your mood, or even lower your self-esteem. Instead of stargazing, how about lifting your eyes up to the hills from whence comes your help? Your help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121:1).  

#4 Don’t track every trend. Internet culture promotes group think, where large groups draw the same conclusions about issues and events without exercising critical thinking or thoroughly evaluating the situation. Thanks to trending topics, thousands of people—sometimes it’s in the millions—are clicking on the exact same stories and having their opinions formed or swayed by what the mob is saying or thinking.  

Letting trending topics hijack your thoughts, ideas, and opinions will surely disrupt your peace. It’s not important to always know what’s trending or agree with the majority. Furthermore, it is impossible to become a trendsetter if you are committed to being a trend follower.

#5 Avoid toxic pages. There are some popular but toxic social media pages—whether they belong to individuals, organizations, or media sites— with millions of followers online. The owners of these well-known and high-profile destinations frequently stir controversy, highlight petty drama, and are quick to share things in hopes of making you angry and getting you riled up.

Why, though? What does this accomplish? Well, when you interact with a post, whether your comment is negative or positive, you increase their engagement, help grow their social following, and potentially add to their income if they are monetized. Instead of contributing to the success of poisonous pages, disengage from them. Though it may be free to be connected, if the content they are posting costs your peace, that connection is costing you too much.

These 5 strategies from EEW Magazine Online, though not exhaustive, will be no doubt effective in helping you reach your goal of preserving your peace on the Internet. But knowledge without application is useless.

Therefore, be sure to use the tips here to guard your mental health so you won’t self-sabotage and can take full advantage of every God-given opportunity to reach your personal goals.