Experts say that social media has some of the most detrimental psychological effects on people who have addictive tendencies when using it. There are images of people who live seemingly perfect lives and have no worries or cares in the world. There are also people who use social media to troll and bully others since they know they are in a virtual environment.

The interesting thing about virtual environments is that they still operate in a manner that allows consciousness and intelligence to develop and evolve as if the environment were real and tangible.

How can we find a way to create a virtual but mental space where there are not as many notable negative effects on the human psyche and personality?
We must begin to visualize the mental environment we wish to have, and then consciously choose to expand into that space we created for ourselves. Even online, we have to figure out how we wish to exist and why.

At this point, social media becomes a tool for the advancement of the person instead of a hinderance to their natural evolution. Instead of following gossip pages, celebrity, comedy, and those with high sexual content full of vice. Focus on following themed pages that deal with your goals and aspirations.
There are pages on most social media platforms that are educational, inspirational, motivating, and spiritual in nature. If the goal of social media is to be social, then why not use the art of socializing for it’s positive possibilities?

Follow pages that teach you a new language, teach you science and communication skills. Follow business pages that give you advice on strategy, techniques, physical health, and financial growth. How about those pages that talk you through your relationship issues and help you boost your positive self-talk and confidence levels? There is something there for everyone who has a dream! Even if you do not have a dream, settling the mind in the right mix of positive messaging may put that path front and center effortlessly for you. These are some good examples from my follow list

The trick to taking advantage of this new intentionally positive environment is the intent itself. Making sure that the environment has its desired effects boils down to  your willingness to expand, to learn, and to step outside of comfort zones long enough for the change to register. Making changes happen often requires a period of chastening that conditions that body and mind to operate cohesively as one harmonious unit.

It also helps to train the brain to recognize when too much time is being spent of scrolling! After so many refreshed screens, there isn’t too much more to see lol so just put the phone down and go on about living life.  It also helps to do a spring cleaning of your apps. Lately there are more and more redundancies happening in the social media apps themselves because they share functional similarities like the video chatting of Instagram and Facebook, or the facial recognition filters of Instagram and snapchat. Do we really need to have all that on our phones? I like to keep the platforms I do business on and toss the others.

All in all, we have to remain diligent about how we use technology because it submits to the will of the user. It cannot be responsible or vigilant like we can. There is a handy tool offered on Instagram that allows the user to monitor their usage activity which is something we should all peek at from time to time. Otherwise we run the risk of being run by the risk. Here is a great talk about how intention works and how to be intentional about the things that really matter in life.