Curating your internet experience
You are allowed to create the experiences you surround yourself with. You are allowed to remove media, stimuli, and even people that do not make you happy.
You are not obligated to watch a show that upsets you, to constantly bombard yourself with news articles that make you anxious, or keep in touch with people who bring negativity into your life (whether actively or passively). There was a period of time when sitting down with my phone to relax actually made me anxious, and that prompted me to reflect and go through the sort of posts, people, and media that I was consuming or being shown. Surround yourself with things that you enjoy, news and topics you find interesting, hobbies, and media you find fulfilling or make you smile.
For me that meant I eliminated a few key things:
SAD COMICS ON MY FEED (these mess with me a ton and I don't want to be scrolling on my break and then start crying)
Constant streams of bad news! I still keep up to date but I selected a few trusted sources and listen/watch them at specific times so I'm not constantly overwhelmed.
Triggering media ( enough said tbh)
Toxic dynamics in certain internet circles ( I'm a dancer, less so now bc of EDS but I love to dance but I found myself exposed to a lot of toxicity, especially regarding body image and eating habits in some circles)
Changing this stuff really helped me and I noticed a lot less doom scrolling.
Curate your internet experience, as weird as it may sound it's a form of self-care and can have a fairly potent effect on mental health!
If you made it through this post please enjoy this cat photo