How Social Media Affects Your Mental Well-Being

Most of us start our day the same way: by reaching for our phones. We turn off our alarms, but before we even take a moment to fully wake up, we’re already scrolling through social media, often without thinking. This habit, driven by habit rather than intention, raises an important question: can we really use social media mindfully?

In this article, OpenUp psychologist Lili Thoelen shares her thoughts and offers practical tips to help you use social media more mindfully.

For most of us, social media is primarily a place to connect with others: to stay in touch, chat, send each other our favourite memes, and have a good laugh together. This helps us stay connected, even when we’re miles apart, and can make us feel closer to loved ones we might not get to see often.

But here’s the paradox: social media contributes to connection and isolation. Although it provides a sense of community, studies suggest that excessive social media use can replace genuine social interactions, leading to higher levels of loneliness and reduced real-life engagement. Having experiences through a screen simply cannot replicate the depth of in-person connections. This paradox highlights an important distinction: it’s not social media itself, but how we use it, that determines its impact.

According to psychologist Lili mindful usage plays a crucial role in whether social media enhances our well-being or diminishes it.

“The way that you use social media influences how it affects your mental well-being. There’s a big difference between passive and active usage,” explains Lili.

When we passively use social media, scrolling social media for hours, we experience predominantly negative effects. We often fall into negative thought patterns more easily, such as comparing ourselves to others, and it can make us feel anxious, restless, sad or depressed. One of the main pitfalls of passive social media usage is that we end up in a constant comparison game, which can lead to insecurity and low self-esteem. “What’s dangerous about social media is that we mainly see what’s going on at a surface level — we don’t see the doubts and insecurities that we all experience in our daily lives. This makes us feel more alone,” explains Lili.

”Through active usage, such as posting, liking and reacting, we can feel more connected to each other, experience more support and just generally feel better.” Sharing photos every now and then or reacting to a friend’s photo can make us feel more connected. It’s a way of staying in touch with each other,” says Lili. Active usage can also be a powerful creative outlet; a way to express yourself through photography, writing, and videos. It allows you to document your life, and beyond that, even build a personal brand, community, income, or career.

“On the flipside, too much active usage can be harmful for our mental well-being,” says Lili. For instance, if you find yourself documenting every single part of your day, or feel like your holiday has been ruined because you didn’t get the ”best” photos for your social media, you may need to look into your active social media usage and how it’s affecting your well-being.

Like a lot of things in life, the dose is the poison when it comes to social media. You can enjoy both active and passive usage, but the key is being mindful of your consumption and finding ways to cut back where necessary. Let’s explore 5 tips below that will help you achieve this.

Before changing your behaviour, you need to understand your habits. Check your screen time data (available in your phone’s settings) to see how much time you spend on social media. Pay attention to when and why you use it: do you scroll when bored, stressed, or avoiding something else? Are there other times when you check social media? For most of us, it’s become an unconscious habit of grabbing our phones regularly throughout the day and quickly checking social media. See if this applies to you.

Often we don’t entirely know who we’re following and why, and we regularly follow people who don’t make us feel that good. Over time, our feeds can fill up with influencers promoting unrealistic beauty standards, people flaunting their wealth, or even accounts that make us feel like we’re somehow falling behind in life.

Take a moment to reflect: Do the people you follow inspire you, educate you, or add value to your life? Or do they leave you feeling like you’re not good enough? If you catch yourself constantly comparing yourself, it might be time to unfollow or mute those accounts. There are plenty of positive accounts that you can follow that will make you feel good, so keep these in mind if you do a social media clear out.

3. Replace that morning scroll with something enjoyable

We often start the day by scrolling, which instantly makes it a habitual part of our routine. Try to break the cycle by doing something enjoyable first thing in the morning. This could be stepping outside for some air, making a fancy coffee, or listening to your favourite music. By delaying social media with something enjoyable, you’ll likely notice that you don’t miss it as much and feel less of a need to check it throughout the day. Give it a try and see how it goes!

4. Turn off your notifications

Notifications are designed to grab your attention instantly. This triggers the reward centre of the brain, which causes the release of a feel-good chemical called dopamine, pulling you back into social media even when you had no intention of checking it again. Each pin or buzz reinforces the habit of constantly reaching for your phone, so the cycle continues endlessly. To regain control, start by turning off non-essential notifications, such as likes or suggested posts. Consider using “Do Not Disturb” or Focus Modes to silence alerts during work hours, meals, or bedtime. If you find yourself still checking out of habit, go a step further: move social media apps off your home screen or set specific “check-in” times to stay in control of your usage.

As we discussed in our previous tip, social media is designed to pull you in, so setting limits is essential. Try giving yourself a specific window for scrolling, like only checking in after lunch or setting a 20-minute timer. Opinions are divided about how much time we can ideally spend on social media. But cutting back our social media usage to around 30 minutes a day is shown to have positive mental well-being effects. You can also replace mindless scrolling with something more enjoyable, like calling a friend, listening to a podcast, or stepping outside. The less time you spend glued to your screen, the more time you’ll have for things that actually make you feel good.