5 Healthy Alternatives to Social Media
Healthy Alternatives to Social Media: The Solution
In this follow up to “Healthy Alternatives to Social Media: The Problem”, we’ll highlight solutions and alternative platforms that do not harm our mental well-being, and instead offer real-life connections with local people and businesses.
We will consider alternate activities we can engage in and ways to use community building platforms to stay connected with other members of our local communities and networks. Here are 5 healthy alternatives to social media.
1. Digital Detox Apps like BeReal
BeReal is less of a social media platform and more of a solution to stay connected with friends and family who don’t live nearby. It’s great for daily check-ins to be authentic and let people know what’s going on right here right now.
For anyone who wishes to stay connected with old friends who have moved away or family members that don’t live nearby, BeReal is great for just that. It helps to validate our self-esteem and help us to feel like we are still being ‘heard’ and ‘seen’. Most importantly, it encourages users to be themselves and share an authentic snapshot of their day-to-day lives.
2. Listening To Podcasts
Another healthy alternative to social media is listening to podcasts.
One study shows that listening to Podcasts stimulates mental imagery more intensely than watching or reading. It also causes listeners to pay more attention over longer periods of time.
It is proven that listening to podcasts generally improves your mental well-being. Improving your cognitive ability and listening skills will also lead to more fulfilling conversations as you navigate and build local networks and meet new friends.
How do you find podcasts to listen to? Well, there are several platforms where you can find Podcasts in just about any niche that you enjoy.
Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts are two of the most prominent platforms. Simply download the apps on your mobile and search for any topic that relates to you.
3. Attending In-Person Events
One major cause of depression is being alone and lonely. A remedy to that is associating with people, but it is easier said than done in this post pandemic age. Knowing how beneficial it can be for our mental health is a great way to get motivated to get out there.
Attending in-person events is another healthy alternative to social media because it improves our mental health and promotes a healthy perspective.
Here are a few apps that can help you discover nearby events so you can connect with real people in safe spaces: Meetup, Therr, EventBrite, TicketMaster, and Gametime.
4. Local Community Platforms
Most social media platforms today do not help you connect with real people for personal or business purposes outside of the platform. Instead, they focus on increasing your time spent on the app. They also encourage more shallow connections and don’t lead to continued future engagement. It may be better for your mental health to seek out new connections in the local community. Enter local social media, and see what you are missing.
One solution for a more local-first social outlook is to use local, community centric platforms like Therr app, Foursquare City App, or Snapchat. These platforms have a business model that encourages you to merge your digital network with your real-world connections and interactions. The nice thing about Therr is that it is 100% focused on creating and improving local connections. The company earns revenue from local businesses when you enter a local event or store. It is also a safe way to explore a community and see all that it has to offer before jumping right in.
These types of local-first social networking apps incentivize you to spend less time and energy shouting into the ether, and more time engaging with people locally who share common interests.
These healthy alternatives to generic social media are a great way to connect with real people and organizations. They reduce your odds of feeling depressed, and they help support locally sourced products and services.
5. Join a Club or Organization
You would be surprised how many opportunities there are to join a local club or organization. Local groups could include anything from pickup sports to community service or obscure interests. Most universities have a public forum where you can learn about different local clubs, and most cities promote local organizations through local news or online forums.
Forums are not like generic social media platforms where people are hyper focused on follower count and social clout. Instead they focus more on headlines, opinions, and public communications.
If you are seeking healthy alternatives to social media, you should be on forums like Reddit and Quora where you can join local channels and frequently read about upcoming events and meetups. You should also set your news preferences to local news to keep up with the changes in nearby communities.
The Difference Between Social Media and a Social Network
Social media as it is today is just a platform where people publish brief updates about their life in the hope that people interact with or engage with their posts. The focus is on content and media of any sort.
A social network, on the other hand, is a place where people actually connect with each other whether online or in the real world.
Let’s be honest; in today’s world, we need more social networks and less social media. Not only this, but we need ways to build stronger connections.
Therefore, everyone should prioritize real connections with people around them including friends and family, over chasing big followers count. We hope you have gained some insights about the variety of opportunities in your local community just waiting for you to reach out.
Wrap Up
All in all, social media platforms today have obvious problems, and the most impactful on society are depression and mental health issues.
As a solution, we shared 5 healthy alternatives to social media that we highly recommended:
- Digital Detox Apps like BeReal
- Listening To Podcasts
- Attending In-Person Events
- Local Community Platforms
- Join a Club or Organization
Let’s all focus more on social connections with real people rather than competing on social media platforms. This will most definitely have a better impact on our mental health and help drive society at large to a more prosperous future.
Share your thoughts on our socials or send an email, and let us know if you can relate. For more tips & info, send feedback, questions, or suggestions to the e-mail below!
Originally published at https://therr.app.