Just as consuming a diet of junk food can lead to physical health problems, consuming a poor “media diet” can result in psychological issues such as:
- anxiety,
- anger,
- and addiction.
Social media algorithms are designed to capture our attention by exploiting our vulnerabilities and feeding us content that elicits strong emotional responses.
To maintain mental well-being, it’s crucial to curate a healthy media diet by:
- limiting social media use,
- seeking information from trusted sources,
- blocking manipulative content,
- and engaging with more balanced and educational materials.
Using something like a read-it-later app can also help to separate an emotional reaction from the consumption of the information.
The development of personal AI agents can also help with this.