How Detoxing from Social Media Helps Depression
Social media seems unavoidable in today’s society. Chances are, your teen's phone has several social apps on it right now. They might check in on Facebook throughout the day and spend their nights before bed scrolling through Instagram or TikTok.
Sound familiar?
While social media can be a great tool for staying connected with people, it also has several drawbacks. Some studies have even linked social media use to depression. If your teen is already dealing with a mental health condition, using social media too often can make their symptoms worse.
Sometimes, detoxing from social media can help with those symptoms, and make it easier for them to manage depression. Not sure how the two connect? Let’s cover some of the benefits experienced from a social media detox.
It Stops Unhealthy Comparison
Social media is the ultimate comparison tool. It’s also nothing more than a highlight reel of most people’s lives. Let’s face it, no one is going to post a picture they don’t think makes them look good.
Unfortunately, even if your teen understands that in their subconscious, it’s not always easy to remember in the moment. So, they might find themselves comparing their life with others on social media. Maybe it appears that others have more friends or are more successful.
Comparison can often make depression feel worse, pushing your teen into a deeper sadness and making things seem more hopeless, especially during a life stage where they're discovering their identity.
By detoxing from social media, your teen will have fewer opportunities to compare themselves to others. Instead, they can focus on growth, healing, and acceptance in their own life.
It Lowers Stress Levels
Several studies have been done about “digital detoxes,” and stepping away from social media is often included in that research.
What’s been discovered is that detoxing from social media can reduce stress levels by taking away a lot of unnecessary pressure.
Whether we admit it or not, there is an unspoken pressure to be “active” on social media. Whether it’s taking a picture of dinner or updating your status to let people know what you’re doing, we’re all expected to let others into our lives through various platforms.
That pressure can add a lot of stress on teens in particular, and cause even greater problems with depression. Detoxing from social media helps to alleviate that pressure and gives teens more free time to focus on other things.
It Helps with Mindfulness
There’s no question that social media is distracting. Have you ever been scrolling through your own feed, only to find that an hour has gone by?
It’s easy to joke about what a “black hole” social media can be, but when someone is dealing with depression, it can also cause their thoughts to wander to negative places. Social media can cause teens to worry about the future or focus on the past, rather than remaining present in the future.
It can also serve as a distraction from things they should be focused on, like schoolwork. By detoxing from social media, they can spend more time practicing mindfulness. It's a great tool for reducing stress and managing symptoms of depression. When your teen makes more time for it, they’ll start to feel more in control.
A social media detox doesn’t have to last forever. But, if your teen commits to stepping away from it for a period of time, they’ll start to see some of the benefits right away.
If you notice that your teen is depressed and spending a lot of time on social media, encourage them to take a break from their feeds and reach out to a therapist who can help them learn to cope with their depression in a healthy manner through therapy for teens.
