In the very beginning, social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, were more about connecting with people you know in real life or updating your profile to reflect the ways in which you hoped others would see you. The addition of the Facebook newsfeed (and its Instagram equivalent), however, changed everything.

The definition of news is “newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events.” I don’t know about you, but in my experience it has become harder to filter that which is noteworthy and important from that which is not. My newsfeeds are filled with everything from sponsored advertisements to photos of random acquaintances’ travel adventures. Mixed in, there are local events that I’m interested in attending, close friends’ and family’s announcements of major life events, and comments addressed to me. The problem is a newsfeed treats each of these pieces of information with the same attention. It’s all breaking news, and we receive it as such, and this has an impact.

Breaking news! Someone I haven’t spoken to in 20 years made pancakes for breakfast.

Breaking news! A close friend is in need of help finding a counselor for her daughter.

Breaking news! A piece of legislation that impacts counselors and other mental health professionals has been introduced and needs counselor support.

How do we, as counselors, regain control of our newsfeeds? How do we help clients do the same? The first step is reflecting on the impact of this breaking news culture on your personal and professional life. Consider the following:

• How much time do you spend filtering through your newsfeed? Is this an amount you feel comfortable with?
• After reading your newsfeed, how do you feel? Happy? Productive? Or distracted and stressed?
• In what ways do you find yourself mindlessly or mindfully interacting with your newsfeeds?
• How do you access your newsfeed? Does the context affect your behavior? For example, I do not have the Facebook mobile app on my iPhone. I only check my newsfeed from my laptop to ensure that I am not filling random 5-15 minute downtime intervals with mindless scrolling.
• Think about the timing of when you ingest breaking news. For example, checking a newsfeed first thing in the morning can set the tone for your day or decide how you direct your morning energy and attention.

The next step is to make changes that help you manage breaking news, such as:

• Consider removing apps with newsfeeds from your mobile device.
• Hide your newsfeed completely from the desktop version of social media sites.
• Eliminate—or hide– people, pages or accounts that are not having a positive impact (both Twitter and Facebook allow you to “mute” rather than unfriend or unfollow).
• Narrow your follow or friend list to 25-50 people and pages that are most meaningful to you.
• Turn off notifications to avoid constant distraction

Technology, while helpful in many ways, has created a daily existence that calls for our attention to be pulled in many different directions at once. This can leave us, and our clients, feeling distracted, scattered, and stressed. By intentionally filtering our newsfeeds to better match our values, we can stop the relentless breaking news from breaking through so only that which is most important gains our attention.

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we take care of ourselves when filtering information through social media and traditional media outlets. Let’s all please take care of ourselves so that we can continue to do the work of taking care of others. It’s OK to set boundaries, create buffers, and take breaks.

 

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Related reading, from Counseling Today: “Helping clients develop a healthy relationship with social media”

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Adria S. Dunbar is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Human Development at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She has more than 15 years of experience with both efficient and inefficient technology in school settings, private practice and counselor education. Contact her at adria.dunbar@ncsu.edu.

@TechCounselor’s Instagram is @techcounselor.

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