Digital Wellbeing Aspect 4: Digital Content refers to balanced participation in content consumption, so here, we need to think about the content we access and consume, as well as the skills we may need to do so effectively.
First of all, in mainstream conversations, we tend to hear that people find social media toxic. However, this implies that the person speaking does not proactively choose their online sources and just signs up for everything.
The process of choosing our sources is called curation – it’s exactly the same as shopping for books for your reference library or signing up for specific magazines. You have the power and choice to decide what content you want to see online. Even social media advertising algorithms can be trained to serve your relevant ads.
Additionally, we have options to report upsetting content and collectively contribute to healthier online spaces. This may, of course, mean that you have to unfollow someone you know in person if their content is upsetting and negotiate those boundaries just like you would in offline conversations.
It’s worth planning for regular stream clean-ups now and again – I usually do it around the end of the year. Our interests and preferences may change, so it’s important to focus on sources and content that are comforting, supportive, informative or brings value to your life in any other way.
It’s important to proactively choose content types and sources that improve our digital wellbeing.
Spend a moment listing your main content courses and place them in the following categories: toxic, upsetting or unhelpful; neutral and not needed; informative, supportive and contributing to my wellbeing. Then it may be a bit easier to unsubscribe and clean up your list of content sources, as well as subscribe to new content that supports your digital wellbeing.
If you found this helpful, you can find a handy Digital Wellbeing Assessment with more insights on our homepage or here.
