how to stop letting social media steal your joy
We all love a good doom scroll right? Getting comfy on the sofa with some good old background noise and just scrolling away. It’s become such a normal part of our lives. It’s all fun and games until you come across a post that completely ruins your evening. Whether that’s because it’s negative or makes you feel crappy about yourself or makes you feel behind in life. Whatever the circumstance is, it can take seeing one thing to make you spiral.
Social media is (mostly) an amazing thing. It allows us to share, learn and connect in ways that just wouldn’t be possible without it. However, there is a darker side to social media and for most people this often shows up as comparison. You might see someone living exactly the life you want to lead or with the body you’d like to have. It can be absolutely anything, even the smallest things that send you into that spiral of comparison. All of a sudden you’ve gone from peacefully scrolling to ripping your own life apart and bullying yourself.
Today, I’d like to share some little actionable ways that you can stop letting social media steal your joy and instead use it as a tool to build you up, not break you down.
unfollow anyone who brings you down.
Now, stay with me. This is a difficult task but it’s also probably the most vital. If your social feeds are overrun with pages that steal away your energy or your joy then you’re never going to feel positive while scrolling. Get rid of anyone you follow that makes you feel a negative feeling. A mini following audit is great for getting more intentional with who you follow and why. With four simple questions you can decide if the people you follow are actually adding value into your life. Do a mini following audit and ask yourself a few questions:
- When I watch this person, how do I feel?
- Does this content add to my life? (Think inspiration, education, support).
- Would I miss the content if I no longer saw it?
- Does this content align with how I want to live my life?
set intentional guidelines for who you do follow.
Your social media feed is essentially the background noise of your life. If the accounts you follow constantly make you feel inadequate, pressured, or like you’re always behind, it’s going to affect your mindset more than you realise. That doesn’t mean you need to unfollow everyone with a nice life or aesthetic home.
But it’s worth asking yourself a simple question: how do I feel after seeing this person’s content? Do you feel energised, inspired or entertained? Or do you feel like you’re suddenly failing at life? Your feed should contain people who make you feel curious, motivated, informed, or amused — not people who quietly chip away at your confidence. Unfollowing or muting someone isn’t dramatic. It’s just protecting your peace.
really think about what you want social media to do for you.
Most of us use social media completely passively. We open the app because we’re bored, tired, or avoiding something. But imagine if you decided what you wanted to get from it first. Maybe you want social media to help you:
- discover new recipes
- find book recommendations
- learn about hobbies
- laugh at silly videos
- stay connected with friends
- discover creative ideas
Once you know why you’re using it, the way you interact with it naturally changes. Instead of endless scrolling, it becomes something more intentional — like browsing a magazine rather than falling down a rabbit hole.
curate your feed.
We’re very selective about what we bring into our homes. We decorate with things we like, things that feel comforting, things that represent who we are. But when it comes to social media, we often let absolutely anything into our mental space. Curating your feed means actively shaping it so it feels like a place you actually enjoy spending time. You can do this by:
- unfollowing accounts that drain you
- muting topics that trigger comparison
- following creators who teach, inspire, or genuinely entertain you
- engaging more with content you want to see more of
The algorithm learns from what you interact with. The more intentional you are, the more your feed starts to reflect what actually matters to you. Think of it as interior design for your brain.
set a time limit and stick to it.
Social media is designed to keep you there. Infinite scrolling, autoplay videos, and personalised algorithms all exist for one reason: to keep your attention for as long as possible. So setting a time limit isn’t a failure of willpower — it’s just levelling the playing field. You might decide:
- 20 minutes in the evening
- no scrolling first thing in the morning
- social media only after work
- app timers that remind you when you’ve had enough
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s simply making sure social media fits into your life, rather than quietly taking it over.
create a list of things to do rather than doomscrolling.
One of the biggest reasons we fall into endless scrolling is simple: we don’t know what else to do in those little pockets of time. So the easiest option becomes picking up the phone. Having a list of alternative activities can help break that habit. This is also where creating a dopamine menu can be really helpful.
A dopamine menu is a personalised list of activities that give your brain a little boost — things you can turn to when you’re feeling bored, restless, or low-energy. Instead of reaching for your phone automatically, you can pick something from your menu that actually leaves you feeling better afterwards. Because at the end of the day, the goal isn’t just to consume less. It’s to create more.
Social media can be funny, inspiring, and genuinely fun — but it shouldn’t quietly take more from you than it gives. The goal isn’t to quit it completely, just to use it a little more intentionally. Your time, attention, and joy are far too valuable to hand over to the algorithm without thinking about it first.
Love ya, Cait xo
