Have you noticed that sometimes after looking at social media, you feel worse? Young people have shared with us that it happens to them too.
Some people feel worse when they:
- See photos of their friends getting together without them
- Are having a bad day, yet their friends’ posts all seem happy and fun
- See someone’s post about something they don’t like or agree with especially if someone is posting something that can be triggering – like a depressing or negative picture or mean comment
It can helpful to talk to your child about looking back at social media posts and how they affect their mood. They can spend time:
- Looking at their social media sites and posts
- Writing down what posts would annoy them or make them feel bad
- Identifying patterns in the posts that make them feel bad
Help them reflect back. The next time they see posts that worsen their mood, they can decide to skip over them, block the post from their newsfeed, or just stop using social media and switch to a different activity.
Did you try talking to your child about their mood and social media? What did you learn?