5 Tips to Care For Your Mental Health on the Internet

Use these ideas to establish a healthier, more balanced creative relationship with social media platforms in 2022

Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman is known for his theory of liquid modernity. He believes we are experiencing an “attention crisis”. We have never generated so much knowledge, while simultaneously being so distracted and unable to absorb it.

Spanish physicist Alfons Cornella follows this line of thinking. He names the phenomenon observed by Bauman “infoxication” (information intoxication) and believes it's caused by the constant use of devices connected to the Internet.

It’s normal to feel tired, anxious, or unsure in the face of so many stimuli when you work in creative industries... But is there a solution to this problem?

Content creator and educator Tiago Henriques (@tiagorhenriques) is a specialist in personal development and creativity. He believes the solution lies in “thinking better about how information affects us on a daily basis.”

Tiago believes we need to find a balance and rhythm (for both creation and consumption) that respects our routines and mental health.

To help you establish a healthier relationship with online content, social media, and your own creative process, Tiago shares five essential tips to turn the Internet into space primed for creativity in 2022.

1. Consume online content consciously

As well as spending a lot of time online, we are used to consuming huge amounts of information via websites and social media, which have retention as their main objective.

“You will spend more time on these platforms, because after all, that’s what they are designed for.” Being aware of this process is the first step to changing your relationship with the Internet. “You’re the boss,” Tiago reminds us.

He adds, “It’s best to be careful about which sites and profiles you choose to follow, as well as the type of content and time you spend on each of the platforms you use every day. Consuming information more consciously, and using criteria to filter what you read, influences your creative process.”

2. Don’t compare yourself to others

We tend to compare ourselves with other people sharing their work and creative processes on social media.

We do so on both a professional and a personal level; it becomes easy to believe that others are busy working and making progress while we rest. But, as Tiago notes, “that’s not true.”

“We are constantly creating narratives, especially online, and we don’t have access to everything that happens in other people’s lives. We don’t see their challenges, mistakes, or difficulties. All we see are their victories. A post is just one tiny part of someone’s routine, not their whole day,” he explains.

Our brain processes everything by association and connection, comparing what we experience with everything that surrounds us. The sooner we learn to turn this “muscle” off, the better. Your process (and time) is unique, so you shouldn’t compare yourself to anyone else.

3. Reframe the comparison

Tiago suggests, “Instead of thinking about the person you admire and thinking ‘dammit, I’m terrible, I’m not creating anything'; why not try thinking about their creative process instead? How did they achieve that? How can I explore what they shared in more depth? How can I adapt such a process to my life to create something of my own? What is it about that person that inspires me? How can I learn from that?“

Try and turn negative feelings like guilt, anxiety, and fatigue into ways of improving the way you feel about your creative process. We learn through observation, and as we noted earlier, comparing yourself with others doesn’t help you create.

4. Not everything is essential—question your choices!

We live at a very competitive time, with thousands of people producing online content at once.

Digital marketing, illustration, and finance, for example, are all competing on the same playing field as videos of funny cats or people dancing. Everyone is desperately trying to grab your attention!

“Content is designed to appeal to you with titles like '3 Things You’re Not Doing to be Creative,' or '5 Things You Have to Know For Success'. It feels as if everything we read is important, unmissable, essential—but it’s not," Tiago emphasizes.

The solution, according to him, “is to reflect and ask yourself: is this really true? Is it really essential? Do I need to do all these 117 things before I start my project? Use your common sense to filter out what’s irrelevant and to avoid being hooked by every trigger you see.”

5. Failure is part of the process

Finally, remember that every creative process depends on mistakes, failures, and a lot of time invested.

We don’t generally share our failures on social, which as Tiago notes, "is why you get the feeling that everyone else lives in a palace while you’re still out building foundations."

“We’re all in a long process, all the time—so trust your own time!” Tiago concludes.

Love these tips? Check out online creative consulting courses available on Domestika and don’t miss Tiago Henrique‘s upcoming course.

Illustrations by @maja_dabek; English version by @studiogaunt.

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- Techniques to Improve Your Productivity, a course by Elastic Heads, Digital Product Design Studio
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