The Benefits of Curating Your Social Media Feed

Did you know that the feed you scroll through on Instagram and TikTok can actually be controlled by your own personal interest when scrolling through posts? While it might not seem like it, you are in control of the media you consume through these platforms depending on what you choose to spend the most time watching. If you find yourself feeling isolated or unhappy from scrolling on your feed, it is likely you may need to clean it in order to create a healthier aspect of social media. A social media feed that focuses on your personal interests rather than one that controls your negative thoughts is one that is healthier for your mind and self-image. There are many different steps that can be taken to alter your social media feed if you believe yours may be harming your own perspective of yourself rather than watching videos that could reflect your own hobbies (Healthline, 2024).

The longer a user on social media stays engaged with the curated feeds created by social media databases through advertisements, the more profit platforms can gain from having control over your feed.​ This engagement with these platforms will inform the database of the user's interest due to the association with the user, which can be from liking and sharing with friends as the indicator for the highest engagement. The algorithm will be able to rank the specific topics that you engaged with the most in order to push these topics to the top of your algorithm. What you choose to like will correlate to what the social media platforms find is the largest of your interests in order to control your engagement on the platform. If you find yourself getting too attached to negative posts, which can affect your own self-image, there are different methods to be used in order to control the social media feed (Georgetown Law Technology Review, 2017).

For instance, one of the steps taken to control your social media feed is by marking accounts you want to see more as a favorite instead of allowing social media to suggest you accounts that may be associated with unhealthy social media habits. In order to avoid certain negative accounts, you can mark these posts when they show on your feed as “not interested” in order to lower the chances of this connection reappearing on your feed, further creating a dissociation between your algorithm and this specific topic. If you feel you may just need a short break from these posts, you can also use the snooze suggested posts option, which you can use for up to 30 days. Some platforms also provide the restricted mode option, allowing you to create a feed that focuses on specific topics geared towards your own interest rather than trying to cater towards increasing their overall platform engagement with unhealthy promotion of unwanted accounts (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2023).

In addition, lowering the amount of doomscrolling done on social media will be able to form a more healthy social media feed for you. Doomscrolling is a constant addiction to scrolling nonstop, resulting in these negative posts becoming your main feed due to it raising your engagement. Using social media as an outlet to express your own personal interest rather than reaffirm negative thoughts can establish a more positive social media feed. Consistently consuming negative posts, which could affirm self-image challenges or creating stress, making it more likely to increase by doomscrolling. Changing your views of social media, such as using it for inspiration or a space to express your hobbies, can shift the idea of using it to seek emotional fulfillment. Using social media to seek the emotional validation needed only further contributes to a harmful social media feed, which is surrounded by the need to affirm these negative thoughts. It is essential to use other forms of an expressive outlet to understand your own thoughts and not look for them to be affirmed through others' posts (Mayo Clinic, 2023).

To conclude, your social media is able to contribute to your overall mindset depending on what you use social media for; based on the reliance on emotional needs to be met or to use it in a productive manner. A negative social media feed won’t make you feel fulfilled due to it being able to affirm your negative beliefs about yourself rather than using it in a positive way. Blocking out these negative posts is necessary to use social media to form a healthy mindset instead of trying to seek validation for negative ideas about yourself. Focusing more on spending less time on social media, except when looking for inspiration as a creative outlet or for personal entertainment, can create a healthier relationship with social media. Cleaning your feed with more positive posts that reflect who you are as a person will overall lead to a healthier mindset.

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Works Cited:

Bowman, A., & Sawchuk, C. N. (2024, April 18). Doomscrolling: Stop the scroll, protect your mental health. Mayo Clinic Press. https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/mental-health/doom-scrolling-and-mental-health/ 

Georgetown Law Technology Review. (n.d.). Georgetown Law Technology Review. https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/social-media-algorithms-why-you-see-what-you-see/GLTR-12-2017/ 

Managing Content on Social Media Feeds. (2024, June 6). American Academy of Pediatrics. https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/media-and-children/center-of-excellence-on-social-media-and-youth-mental-health/qa-portal/qa-portal-library/qa-portal-library-questions/managing-content-on-social-media-feed/?srsltid=AfmBOorsAH9mQhL2Lvhl2aURNhED06AHp3Hti 

Wade, D. (2024, May 2). Social Media and Body Image: Negative and Positive Effects. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/social-media-and-body-image