The connection between social media and chronic symptoms
Social media has become something deeply ingrained in many people’s lives. It can keep us informed of current events, make us laugh, and keep us connected with friends. It can also keep us in a high-alert state which can worsen chronic pain, symptoms, and our mental health. This post isn’t about deleting your Tiktok or Instagram, but instead, noticing your body’s signals when using social media and responding in a way that supports nervous system regulation rather than staying in passive dysregulation.
How does that make you feel?
A therapist’s favourite question is one that can be utilized outside the walls of the therapy office. When we are repeatedly exposed to media that causes us distress, we can experience a shifting baseline towards chronic hyperarousal. For many people this means that when we open Instagram, Reddit, Tiktok, our brains start to prepare for being exposed to media which puts us on high-alert. Even in spaces where we generally would feel safe, our nervous system amplifies the danger signal in response, making it difficult to down-regulate in safe spaces. This is where it’s important to check in with your body.
Here’s some things to consider:
What happens to my thoughts when I see media from this account?
Am I feeling scared, angry, defeated, apathetic?
What happens to my body? Do my symptoms get worse?
Does my pain change, do I feel nauseous, does my vision narrow, my heart start racing, or my breathing get shallow?
Why do I follow this account?
Trying to make sense of symptoms:
At the height of my chronic pain, I was spending a lot of time on Reddit trying to understand my symptoms. In theory, this made sense: I wanted to hear from other people what they had found was going on, what worked for them, and what didn’t work. In practice, I was consuming story after story of pain, fear, frustration - unknowingly teaching my brain to be on high-alert for symptoms other people were experiencing.
Wanting to stay informed:
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. The 24-hour news cycle has taught us that we need to be informed the moment something happens. The reality is that “breaking news” creates a nervous system that is chronically and systemically primed to expect something bad to happen. This is by design - it keeps us engaging with content whether or not it’s something we need to know.
This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t stay informed if it is important to you. Instead, it’s a gentle encouragement to set boundaries when consuming news. You can try these tips to change how you stay informed:
Unfollow accounts that push “breaking news”. We don’t need to have breaking news forced on us at any time of the day.
Utilize slow media to stay informed. For example, find a podcast or news source that does a weekly recap of world events through a neutral lens. This way, you choose when you are exposed to world events and can make sure that you are in a space where you are consenting, calm, and in control.
Set a time limit. Ensure that when you are reading about world events that it is time bound. This tells your nervous system that we won’t spend an extended amount of time consuming news. This teaches your nervous system to trust you and that you are in control. Start small, around 5 minutes at a time.
Think of it this way: a zebra is enjoying a nice drink of water when they suddenly hear the grass behind them rustle. Their nervous system kicks into hyperarousal so they can be prepared to run! They look behind them, and it’s just a bird gathering grass for its nest. The zebra can go back to drinking their water and thinking about where to graze later today. Now, imagine that the zebra had been scrolling Instagram that morning and read that there had been a lion attack at a neighbouring watering hole, and earlier that week they read that lion attacks are increasing on the other side of the country. As the zebra is walking to their watering hole, they are scanning for any sign of a lion. Has that bush always been there or is it a lion? Are those noises a warthog or a lion? Is Larry the flamingo pro-lion? You get the idea. These are reasonable reactions from the zebra’s nervous system when responding to a threat - it just wants to stay safe! However, it primed the zebra’s nervous system to scan for a threat before they even left their home, keeping them chronically in a state of high-alert.
How to give yourself (some) control over the algorithm:
Unfollowing accounts or deleting platforms that aren’t making you feel good.
Making consumption of media time-bound.
Utilizing apps to limit screen time, doing something else before opening social media, leaving your phone in one place while you’re at home.
Follow accounts that make you feel good, spark curiosity, share stories of recovery, or make you laugh.
Here’s some of my favourite accounts on Instagram:
1924us (aka Mr. Skelly)
Stories of recovery:
