Let’s face it, we’ve all been in the position where we have encountered emotional pain and we want to watch a sad movie, listen to sad songs, and scroll on social media to help cope with our emotions. Whether it was a breakup, a fight, a long stressful day, or even one of those days filled with anxiety or depressive moments, it has led us to consume some type of sad media. We tend to do this because we’re looking for an emotional release or something that is relatable to our current situation. However, does this actually help to improve your mental state and emotions in the long run?Â
From personal experience, I’ve found myself scrolling on social media finding posts that relate to the sad situation that I’m currently in. Liking and saving every post I come across, causing me to fall into a rabbit hole of scrolling and consuming endless negative media. It becomes a cycle, I find myself in a negative mood, I get on social media, see a post relevant to my emotions, I like it and save the post, and then I keep scrolling continuing the process. This process would be considered doomscrolling. This can have a negative impact on mental health by triggering and increasing the effects of depression, stress, anxiety, and panic. It may start off as harmless scrolling but as we consume one negative post to the next, it can lead to an addiction of endless scrolling and the consumption of numerous gloomy media posts.Â
When it comes to coping with my emotional pain, music is my number one go to help relieve my agony. The feeling of the music speaking to me about a similar situation has become a routine to help feel my emotions at the time being. Consuming sad music can be beneficial for a temporary release of sad emotions; however, it may be doing more harm than good depending on the amount of consumption. Music can be a form of therapy to help people with difficult emotions, but repetition and dwelling on these negative feelings, that gloomy music can evoke, can cause harm and worsen our mood. Heavy rotation of the same negative sounds can induce depression, anxiety, and an overall bad mood which can lead to unhealthy and harmful behaviors. I know from previous experience, I can listen to sad music for hours causing me to spend a lot of time overthinking a situation that may not be as bad as I’m making it out to be. Thus leading to my anxiety and depression to arise because I’ve been dwelling on the situation for too long.Â
Now that we know the negative effects of the overconsumption of sad media can have on mental health, what are some precautions we can take so that it doesn’t become unhealthy? First, we can start by setting timers and boundaries with social media. This can help with the endless scrolling and keep our minds from being in a constant negative state. We’ve all lost track of time scrolling on social media apps, but setting a timer can help put a boundary there so that you don’t get too carried away with scrolling for hours upon hours consuming an unhealthy amount of information on these platforms. Next, you should focus on the positivity in your life. When you’re having a bad day, it is easy to think about all the negative aspects of your life at the moment. However, doing this causes the excessive amount of sad media you’re indulging in. Focusing on positive things and doing activities that can lift your mood will be a better option than sitting in your feelings for too long. Lastly, staying away from technology for a while can help boost your mood and overall mental health. When we are in our feelings our first reaction is to go to technology to help ease the suffering. Regardless of how intriguing that may be, taking a step away from the depressing media can help prevent from dwelling on an issue that may not even matter in a few days. In addition to these tips, you can always reach out to someone whether that be friends, family, or a professional to talk about your current mental state. Mental health is very important and it is better to reach out to someone rather than letting it build up inside. Â
I know it is tempting to want to indulge in sad media whenever you feel down, but we need to think about how that is affecting us and our mental state in the long run. Overusing these platforms to try to help cope can actually be doing the complete opposite for you. You want to make sure you are monitoring what you are feeding your mind and how it can affect your mood and behaviors. Sad media isn’t bad all together but just as with most things, overly indulging in something can create more harm than good.
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