| DAY 1 OF 10 Are you overusing social media? Welcome to Healthline and Psych Central's Slow Your Scroll email challenge! Over the next 10 days, you'll learn actionable ways to form healthy social media habits. If using social media has become as natural as breathing, you're not alone. Data from 2021 shows that, globally, humans use social media for an average of 2.5 hours each day. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Social media provides plenty of benefits. For instance, research has found that for people living with chronic conditions, social media is an important source of community and knowledge sharing. It can also be an effective way to stay in touch with friends and family when you live physically far apart. So, we're not here to tell you to get rid of your apps for good. Rather, we aim to help you create healthy, balanced social media habits that add to your quality of life, instead of take away from it. So, when is social media an issue? Like most addictive behaviors, excessive social media use can impact your mental health. In one large-scale study of over 10,000 teens in the United Kingdom, greater social media use was linked to negative effects such as low self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Here are some signs it may be time to reassess your social media habits: - You hide or lie about your usage.
- You often think about social media when you're not using it.
- Your job performance or relationships are being impacted.
- You feel like you can't control your usage.
- People in your life are concerned about your habits.
Like anything worthwhile, changing your relationship with social media takes sustained effort. But we've got your back! In the next 9 days, we'll share actionable, totally doable steps for reducing your use. If you're a parent, consider inviting your young ones to do this challenge with you! Children and teens may be most at risk of social media related mental health issues. So, they stand to benefit even more so from learning healthy habits. Today's challenge: Find your baseline Part of building a fulfilling life is being intentional about how you spend your time. So, let's start by getting a clearer picture of your social media use. Take a day to pay attention to how much time you spend on social media and which sites you're on the most. You don't have to keep a log (unless you're into that kind of thing!), but you should be clear on what sites you use and how much. Tomorrow, we'll get specific about how to change your habits. Until tomorrow,
The Healthline Team | 
