6 min read
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For Teens & Parents
Your Guide to Digital Wellness
Social media is designed to be addictive. Here’s how to practice digital hygiene by checking in with yourself, setting boundaries, and creating a healthier relationship with your devices and the people around you.
Often, digital wellness enters the chat when we talk about social media addiction, because let’s be honest: social media is addictive. It’s designed to keep you scrolling, keep your brain constantly stimulated, and keep you reaching for your phone every time there’s a quiet moment.
At some point, you may find yourself thinking, “Why do I keep picking up my phone? I don’t even really want to.”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Nearly half of teenagers in the United States say they’re online almost constantly, and even though the content we see on the internet doesn’t always make us happy, there’s a dopamine effect at play—likes, comments, shares, and even funny cat videos can prompt the release of dopamine in our brains, a “feel-good” neurotransmitter.
That biological response is what makes social media so addictive. If you feel like you’re using social media too often and it’s impacting your mood, your relationships, your grades, or your sleep, it’s probably time to take a deep breath (literally—more on that later) and start implementing what are known as digital hygiene practices.
Digital wellness is for everyone — not just those who feel addicted to social media
We live in a world rich with technology — cell phones, video games, TV, virtual reality headsets — and digital wellness applies to all of these.
While social media is most often associated with technology addiction, it’s possible to have unhealthy relationships with other forms of technology, too. So, even if your digital footprint is tiny and you don’t use social media often, you can still benefit from understanding the basics of digital wellness. Even as we focus primarily on social media in this post, bear in mind that the same principles can apply to other tech, too.
What is digital wellness?
Digital wellness is the pursuit of a thoughtful, healthy, and balanced relationship with technology, especially social media.
It’s engaging with technology intentionally instead of passively, and it requires frequent self-reflection and adaptation as technology advances.
As with any tool, technology and social media should help you, not harm you.
Digital wellness can feel like a broad, abstract idea. It sounds nice, but what does it actually look like? Each person’s digital wellness is unique to their needs, and what works for one person might not work for another.
That’s where digital hygiene comes in. Think of digital wellness as the “why” and digital hygiene as the “how” — the practical steps that you can take to maintain a healthy life both online and offline.
While digital wellness is a lifelong pursuit, and developing your own routines to help you maintain that balance is an ongoing process, we can help you kickstart your digital hygiene with self-reflection questions, wellness practices to explore, and a couple of digital tools to support you in your journey.
Digital wellness checklist
If you’d like to challenge yourself to practice active reflection, consider journaling your thoughts if one of these questions feels especially relevant to you. If journaling isn’t your thing, you can leave yourself a voice note to revisit later, or share this list with a trusted friend and talk with them about your digital hygiene goals.
There are no right or wrong answers, and these questions are just a starting point in empowering you to set healthy boundaries with technology!
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How much time do I spend on social media each day?
Apple and Android phones both have Digital Wellbeing apps that can show you which apps you use most often, how long you use them, and what time of day you’re on your phone the most.
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How do I feel when I’m on social media?
For this one, try pausing after you’ve been scrolling for a while, especially if you’ve encountered something that seems intentionally frustrating (known as “rage bait“). Can you name one or two emotions you’re experiencing? How does your body feel? Is your jaw clenched or relaxed? Are your shoulders tense? How’s your breathing—normal and easy, or shallow and irregular? Have you been holding your breath?
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Is my time on social media helping me connect with people or disconnecting me from them?
Social media is a powerful tool that can bridge distances, deepen personal connections, and help you find friends with common interests. But because of its addictive nature, and because social media algorithms tend to select content that evokes anger, it can be easy to spiral into an unhelpful place. Arguing with strangers, seeking validation in the form of likes and shares, and scrolling through comment sections can leave you feeling more isolated and lonely.
Take a moment to reflect on who you engage with on social media. Do your interactions uplift you and others? If they don’t right now, that’s okay — that’s why we’re talking about it. How can you use your time on and off social media to deepen connections with the people you care about?
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How does social media interact with my unique needs and overall mental health?
We all see and experience the world differently, and when it comes to social media, it’s important to consider how the digital world might impact you differently than someone else.Maybe you’re prone to comparing yourself to others. Maybe you experience bouts of hyperfixation that make you concentrate on something for long periods, leading you to miss important appointments, classes, or other commitments. You may struggle with depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, or other mental health concerns that can make social media more difficult or risky to navigate.
We know that social media usage is significantly correlated with increased depression, so it’s crucial that you take steps to understand your personal needs and how those may interact with your online activities.
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What kind of social media use is helpful for me?
After considering the previous questions, you may start to form an idea of what your ideal social media usage might look like. Lean into that a little bit more, and if you can, try to define it.
How much time is healthy for you to spend on social media each day, or each week? What activities on social media are harmful to your overall well-being? How can you use your social media to form genuine connections and support your values? What is healthy for you to share, and what is better to keep private?
As you begin to define your ideal social media world, remember to be kind to yourself. It’s difficult to change habits, and if your current social media activities don’t reflect your ideal, that’s okay. Changes don’t happen overnight, but building awareness around how social media affects you is the first step toward a healthier, happier digital life.
Now that you’ve taken some time to define what digital wellness looks like for you, begin to explore the “how.”
Ways you can improve your digital wellness
You can choose any of these digital hygiene habits to start testing today. Remember: these practices are flexible, and you can always adjust them to whatever works best for you!
- Designate a phone-free (or tech-free) space in your home.
As a starting point, you may want to check what time of day you use your phone most (your Digital Wellbeing functions on your phone should tell you this). If you’re trying to use your phone less often, you might decide you won’t use your phone while you’re in bed, while you’re at your desk doing homework, or while you’re watching TV (it can feel good to focus on just one piece of entertainment at a time). Again, pick a space that feels right for you. - Use your phone’s built-in Digital Wellbeing functions.
Whether you have an Apple or an Android device, your phone comes equipped with lots of different options for mindful screen time: app timers, “take a break” reminders, and even the ability to change your phone’s colors to greyscale. A recent study showed that “removing the colors from one’s smartphone for a week significantly reduced screen time.”Experiment with these features to see which ones work best for you. “Sleep Mode” can even switch your phone to greyscale automatically at a certain time each evening, and reducing screen time before bedtime can drastically improve your sleep. - Plan positive phone-free activities with friends and loved ones.
Cutting back on screen time can feel daunting, but it’s easier when you’re intentionally replacing that time with something that feels even better. Try a game night where everyone turns their phone off for two hours. It may feel weird at first, and you’ll probably find yourself reflexively reaching for your phone. But the more time you spend phone-free, the less weird it will feel. - Try a digital detox.
If you can’t remember the last time your phone wasn’t right next to you and you’d like to feel less dependent on it, a digital detox might be the right choice for you. It may sound extreme, but it doesn’t have to be: it’s just a break from your phone (or from social media), for however long you decide is best.Some find it helpful to designate an “analog day:” one day a week where you avoid the internet completely and instead enjoy analog activities like puzzles, crafts, reading books, spending time outside, and hanging out with friends. Others may prefer their digital detox to be during certain times of the day: no social media after 8:00 p.m., or swapping morning doom-scrolling for morning journaling. If you’re feeling like taking a big step, you may take a digital detox from social media completely. Jason Lanier’s book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now might give you the gentle nudge you need to take the leap.
Tools to help your digital wellness journey
However you decide to pursue digital wellness, these vetted digital tools can support your journey.
Finch
A gamified self-care app that’s free to use with paid options available. It combines caring for a virtual pet bird with mindfulness exercises, breathing exercises (remember earlier when I asked you to take a deep breath?), and self-care goals. By taking care of yourself, you also take care of your little bird. It uses up-to-date therapeutic principles to help you reach your goals, and as a bonus, it’s adorable.
Focus Friend
Similar to Finch, except instead of a bird, your friend is a little cartoon bean. Whenever you want to focus on something, you simply set your Focus Friend timer and your bean begins knitting socks. During this time, if you use your phone, you’ll interrupt your bean and they won’t be able to finish their knitting. But if you successfully focus for the duration of the timer, your bean will finish their socks, and you can swap those socks for decorations to spruce up your Focus Friend’s room. This free app is charming, simple to use, and perfect for curbing screen time.
Remember: Engaging with social media and technology mindfully is a skill that requires practice, patience, and a whole lot of trial and error. As you learn more about yourself and your relationship with technology, checking in with yourself and how you feel often is one of the most powerful tools for self-regulation and digital wellness.
If you’d like to learn more, check out our articles on social media as an addiction and how to use social media to help your mental health.
