How to use social media, according to a mental health expert

Experiment with using your favorite online platforms at different times of day and for varying lengths of time, to see how you feel during and after each session. 

You may find that a few short spurts help you feel better than spending 45 minutes exhaustively scrolling through a site’s feed. 

Do you notice that you get a craving to look at Instagram whenever you’re confronted with a difficult task at work? 

Be brave and brutally honest with yourself. Each time you reach for your phone (or computer) to check social media, answer the hard question: Why am I doing this now? 

Pruning some “friends” and adding a few motivational or funny sites is likely to decrease the negative effects of social media.

• Information about the lives of Facebook friends affects people more negatively than other content on Facebook. 
• People whose social media included inspirational stories experienced gratitude, vitality, and awe.

When used thoughtfully and deliberately, social media can be a useful addition to your social life, but only a flesh-and-blood person sitting across from you can fulfill the basic human need for connection and belonging.

Using Facebook to keep abreast of your cousin’s life as a new mother is fine, as long as you don’t neglect to visit as months pass by.