Digital life · 15 min
An honest look at your feed
Scroll for five minutes and notice how each account leaves you feeling, then mute or unfollow the ones that leave you worse.
Social media can bring news from friends, laughter and good ideas, and it can also bring comparison, worry and a low mood that is hard to place. Much of the difference lies in who and what you follow. Looking at your feed with fresh eyes, and changing a little of it, puts more of it back in your hands.
The steps
Four small steps,in your own time.
Sit down with a drink and scroll your main feed for five minutes, as you normally would.
After each post, notice in one word how it left you feeling: lighter, heavier, curious, envious, anxious, nothing.
Mute, unfollow or hide the accounts that most often leave you worse off. You do not have to explain, and you can always follow them again.
Follow one or two accounts that leave you lighter or teach you something, so the feed fills with more of what you want.
The reason
Why it helps
Feeds are built to keep us scrolling, not to look after our mood. Noticing how each post lands turns a vague feeling into something specific, and small changes to who you follow can shift the feel of the whole feed over time.
A gentle variation
If you would rather cut back than tidy up, move one app off your home screen for a week, or set a daily time limit for it.
WE · TRIBE
Try itwith someone.
Do it with a teenager or a friend, comparing notes without telling each other off, and swap one account each that you think the other would enjoy.
Try it today
Today, mute or unfollow three accounts that often leave you feeling worse.
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