Social Media’s Impact on Sobriety

Social media is complex. The amount of time you spend on your phone or computer can impact your day-to-day life and how you look at things. While social media has the power to change your perspective, it can also be dangerous.

With social media comes people with fake profiles, addiction-related content, and more. Social media can significantly influence your sobriety, as it has both positive and negative effects. It is up to you how you handle the influence of social media.

Here are some of the positive and negative effects of social media that can influence your sobriety:

#1. Social Media Can Help You Stay Connected to the World

One of the significant reasons we all use social media is that it helps you stay connected to the world. You can stay updated on what is happening in the lives of your friends and family.

During recovery, you may have times where you feel lonely and feel like it is difficult to pass the time. During that time, social media can be quite helpful. It provides good entertainment and helps you talk to your friends and family.

You can find a good friend or an ally across various social media platforms. When you have no one around, you can easily connect to your friends or loved ones across social media channels.

#2. You Can Engage With Recovery Content and Communities

Social media has a wide range of communities and people you can engage with across various platforms. There are special recovery groups and pages you can follow or be a part of that focus on addiction and recovery topics.

Social media gives you the opportunity to engage with people facing similar issues, share your experience and journey, and know there are others there to support you. Healing can be easy when you have people around who are facing similar challenges.

#3. Addiction-Related Content on Social Media

Addiction-related content on social is a negative consequence of your electronics. There is a lot of addiction-related content across social media platforms that can impact you in your recovery. This type of content has the ability to influence your sobriety and pull you back into negative thoughts and actions.

When using social media, you may come across content that describes or portrays substance abuse and glorifies the life you chose to leave behind. With the normalization of alcohol use in society, it is not abnormal to constantly see ads for new beers or alcohol. However, seeing this type of content can trigger you and cause cravings, which can lead to relapse if not dealt with properly.

It is crucial to try and avoid this content and the people who post it as best as you can. To do this, you can block specific hashtags and people. Doing so will ensure posts from these people or with specific hashtags do not show up on your feed. Choose wisely on what content and people you associate with on social media.

#4. You Have to Be on Alert While on Social Media

Continuously being on alert while on social media is another negative consequence of social media. Not just while in recovery, but in general, you should be careful with the people you meet via social media.

Unfortunately, the people you meet on social media are not always who they portray to be. You may come across fake profiles or fake groups, fooling people under the guise of helping others. Ensure that you are careful who you share your feelings or personal information with, as this can cause damage.

To avoid these aspects of social media and keep your recovery progressing smoothly, ensure that you keep all private information limited to who you know personally and who you can trust.

#5. Everything That Shines Is Not Gold

Social media is all about showing the “glittery” parts of your life. People share their vacations, their glories, photoshopped pictures, and more. As a result, you may feel like you are not doing enough in life when you see other people’s posts on social media.

It is crucial that you never feel inferior seeing someone show off on social media. Remember, many people do not share their bad days or suffering. Just because someone’s life seems perfect through the lens of Instagram or Facebook does not mean they are not facing hardships in their life.

The next time you see someone posting about the good parts of their life, remember that they, too, have struggled with something at one point in their life. You are not alone, and you are not the only person struggling.

Social media has the power to influence our lives, both positively and negatively. In recovery, we have the opportunity to use social media to our advantage. You can seek out others who are in recovery or join groups dedicated to sobriety. You can find others who have been through your same struggles and are ready to help you. On the other hand, social media also has the ability to negatively influence your recovery. Addiction-related content can trigger you and cause cravings. Seeing people only post about the good in their lives can make you feel inferior, and question whether or not you are living to your fullest potential. Remember, social media is not real life. Everyone struggles with something, not just you. If you or a loved one are struggling with a mental health disorder or addiction, Achieve Concierge is here to help. Call us today at (619) 393-5871 to learn more about how we can help you.

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