The Double Edged Sword
Stressful news, social insecurities, and business competition stress are some energies that can come our way through our social media or general technology use. Pics of beautiful and successful people (or so they seem) interspersed with the world news of the day can cause mood problems unless we take care of ourselves. This is an entire area of self-care that didn't exist as such in our recent past. That means we are still in the process of figuring out how to do it - we are writing the book on how to make healthy boundaries with media. Although it is important to stay current, it's also important to rest one's mind from the stimulation and stress that can also come from these sources.
Time
There are several apps out there that can help you manage your own exposure time to desired media sources. This can be helpful if you have trouble putting your device down, even if you know you are becoming upset - or just having a hard time focusing on something else.
Forest is a great example of an app like this, but there are many out there.
Control What You See
It's worth examining your preferences, feeds, and who you follow. It can be worth it to make sure that what's coming up in your feed is what you want to see. Social media platforms use algorithms to suggest content, but it's possible to unfollow stress inducing sources, or to manipulate your own algorithms. If you want more cute puppies in your feed just spend some time searching for them and unfollow a few things that aren't puppies. Give yourself time with your favorite content - anything that makes you feel good. Consider keeping one of your media platforms devoid of all else so that it becomes your safe haven.
Add Useful Healthy Apps
Games can be a distracting from stress, which is valuable to a certain extent especially if some skills are used (i.e. puzzle can keep the mind sharp) or healthy social contact is available through them (avoid toxic chat).
There are entire categories of health apps to consider adding as well. There are apps out there to help you do any workout or hobby, or to track your time and effort spent on them. They can encourage and even remind you of aspects of a healthy lifestyle like proper diet, water, movement, and mindfulness.
Meditation, stress management, and sleep have been popular categories for apps this past year or so, and are worth taking a look at. Headspace comes to mind as it has recently grown in popularity to the point of having a series on Netflix. This app aims to make meditation approachable and accessible, and welcomes all - there doesn't seem to be any specific spiritual reference or agenda.
Suggested Searches
There are so many apps out there, it's hard for us to choose for you - this article isn't intended as a review of the best apps out there. Here are some search terms you might consider when shopping for apps to support your healthy lifestyle journey:
"Mindfullness": this term can be applied to many specific things or your general outlook. It's about being present in your day-to-day existence. Mindful eating is intended to help foster awareness around hunger and satiety, versus emotional eating or triggered eating. Breathing breaks can also be mindfulness breaks. It's about staying grounded, present, and honest with yourself so that you can either be more comfortable with your life or more aware of how to change it.
"Yoga", "meditation", and "home workouts" are some other keywords to search for wellness. "Productivity," "focus", and "health goals" are worth looking at as well. We also recommend searching in social media for "self-love," "kindness", and "gratitude," as pages with this kind of focus often give positive and encouraging messages and reminders.