How often do you use social media? Well, if you’re anything like Granny Ina, you’re reading this while simultaneously snapping selfies for Snapchat, trawling through celeb gossip on Twitter and wading into debates on Facebook.
All jests aside, being in control of social media is an issue growing in prominence, with evidence suggesting overuse can be detrimental to our mental health.
Children and young people are particularly susceptible to negative effects, with youth and social workers witnessing a marked rise in cases of anxiety and poor mental health.
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Now the Government has instructed a team of medical experts to draft official guidelines on how much social media time is healthy for kids.
While we await the official guidelines, here are top tips to ensure we all browse in a healthy, positive way.
Establish boundaries
If you’re concerned about your own or your kids’ social media use, establishing a daily routine is a great starting point.
Decide when to log on each day, where to do it and for how long.
This could be after dinner, only in the living room and for 30 minutes.
It will take getting used to but treating social media as something best enjoyed for a short period of time will be less distracting . . . and frees up time for interacting with family and friends in the real world.
For Social Workers and Educational Welfare Officers – experts when it comes to scheduling and implementing routines – this is one regime that will also help establish social boundaries and personal discipline.
Ban it from bedtime
It’s easy to fall into social media scrolling before bedtime. Who else has said ‘just five more minutes’ at 9pm and is still scrolling past midnight?
The best way to avoid late night profile prowling is to ban phones, tablets and devices from the bedroom altogether.
As any Life Coach or Night Care Worker will tell you, the promise of eight hours uninterrupted sleep is the perfect reward.
Use and scroll with purpose
Social media use can be quite purposeless. So when logging in do so with a goal in mind – such as sending a message to a friend or responding to an invitation.
Social Workers and Child Psychologists are super-focused on individuals’ needs. With exemplary decision-making skills and a clear, logical approach, they know how to work with purpose and concentration.
Bringing these talents to social media use will be a clear winner.
If all this talk of browsing has tickled your fancy, head to s1jobs for the latest Social Services/Housing vacancies.