Water Break: Mindful media consumption.

Over the past week, I have heard several versions of this statement: “I don’t want to put my head in the sand, but I feel like if I continue to read the news I am going to lose my mind.”

Here are some suggestions on how to stay informed, but not at the expense of your mental health and wellbeing: 

1. Consider not reading the news or looking at social media until you have engaged in self care practices and routines. For example, make an agreement with yourself to not read news or look at social media until after you have had your coffee, completed your morning exercise, prayer, or meditation. 
2. Consider putting a ban on reading the news or looking at social media within one hour of starting your bedtime routine. Many of us get ready for bed at a certain time (let’s say 9pm) but read for an hour before we fall asleep around 10pm. Using the example above, this strategy suggests turning off all social media and news by 8pm. 
3. Consider implementing a rule in which you are only allowed to check social media and news for a set period of time within a specific window. For example, “During the work week, I will check social media for 20 minutes max, and read the news for 20 minutes max one time between 12pm and 5pm.” 
4. Consider getting off of social media entirely for a set period of time. I recommend starting small. Try it for 24-48 hours, then reassess. If you feel a marked decrease in anxiety, etc. consider making this more permanent, or consider extending the trial to a week, then two weeks, etc.
5. Consider removing social media apps from your phone and accessing them either by re-installing the app when you feel the need to check it or accessing the platform via an internet browser.
6. Consider allowing yourself just 1-2 days a week to be on social media. 
7. Consider turning off news alerts on your phone. 
8. Consider putting your phone on do not disturb when you are at work or with your family so you don’t see news alerts come across the screen. 
9. Consider mindfully reading the news. Notice physical body sensations, your breath, emotional state, racing thoughts, etc. Read slowly, and take breaks as necessary. Listen to your body. Stop reading if you need to and return to the article when feeling more neutral or try to apply the process recommended in #11 below.
10. Consider avoiding news television shows in which the format includes unproductive arguing and venting vs. productive, objective conversations and dialogues. 
11. Consider engaging in a quick self check before accessing social media or news by asking yourself the following questions: 

• What is my current level of anxiety on a scale of 1-10 (1= not anxious at all & 10 = you feel your house is about to burn down)? In addition to anxiety, repeat this self assessment for the emotions of stress, anger, and fear. If you have trouble assigning a number, check in with your physical body sensations doing a very brief scan. If you are at a 6 or above for anxiety, stress, anger, or fear (any one of them) consider pausing and not checking your social media or the news until you have decreased to a 5 or lower. What are some ways to decrease anxiety, stress, etc? Try to apply the practice of radical acceptance and checking out my self nurturing/coping resource page. 
• Try to remember we are not trying to avoid uncomfortable emotions. We are trying to practice radical acceptance, and part of radical acceptance is emotion identification, allowing ourselves to experience the emotion fully, and then applying compassion. One part of applying compassion may be self nurturing & practicing healthy coping skills. Sometimes that compassion needs to be directed towards ourselves, other times it needs to be directed at others. Most of the time it needs to include compassion for both ourselves and others. 
• Consider this metaphor. At times we all need to get painful dental work (emotions) done. We can’t ignore the dental work (emotions)  or there can be some serious consequences. We can ignore the dental issues (emotions) for awhile, but they always come back – and usually with a vengeance. We don’t have to get the root canal without pain relief measures (coping skills & self nurturing); we get to choose a variety of pain relief options (coping skills & self nurturing). Getting the root canal done with no pain relief doesn’t mean we got a “better” root canal. We don’t get a gold medal for getting a root canal with no pain relief measures. Getting a root canal with no pain relief measures doesn’t increase the likelihood of a successful root canal. In other words, there is no need to navigate painful experiences without some measure of support & pain relief. It’s the same principal about trauma work. We never go into deep trauma work without first equipping someone with tools and resources to weather very uncomfortable emotions. It is inhumane, and very unnecessary.