Guide for social media and mental health

Being connected is a big part of our lives. But if you are seeing things online that makes you feel angry, sad, worried, stressed or annoyed, this can build up and start having a negative impact on your life.

Before you can make social media a more positive place to be, you need to find out what kind of feed you have. Have a scroll through your feed for 5 minutes and write down 5 words that describe your feed.

Bullying is never okay, whether it's at school, at home or on the internet. If you are being harrassed or upset in any way, reach out for help from someone you trust.

You can block and report the people involved, or try muting them. They won't know you've muted them and you won't have to see their posts or messages. You can also use the privacy settings on social media to limit what they can see on your profile.

All social media channels have similar ways to reduce negative content, so you can try to make your online world more positive. You can also report anything you find abusive, harmful or upsetting on all social media channels.

Tips for reducing negative content on Instagram:

• Restrict others

• Use the comment filter

• People who write a comment others may find offensive are notified before their comments are posted

• Muting and blocking others

Here is some advice to help you to work out how to look after your privacy:

• What you put online stays online - things you delete can still be screenshotted

• Online strangers are still strangers - don't feel pressured to share more than you feel comfortable with

• It's easy to overshare on social media especially if you forget who can see your profile

• Privacy is possible - use social media site settings to protect your information