What If Social Media Can Actually Improve Our Mental Health?
Social media has created a generation riddled with anxiety and depression. But the core mechanism behind social media — community building, is the very tool that can help us improve our mental health. Here’s why…
I’ve been researching different approaches to how we can better manage our mental health. In recent years both medical and non-medical solutions have poured into the market to tackle this issue from apps to the use of psychedelics. Mindfulness, meditation and more self-awareness are all commonly associated with the modern approach to mental health but we shouldn’t forget the role community plays. I spoke with Gus Booth-Clibborn, Co-founder of Hello Tomo, and Madeleine Evans, Founder of Levell, to discuss the importance of community.
Today, community and social media are intrinsically linked. Whilst the term ‘social media’ is synonymous with anxiety and depression it may also provide a path to helping us deal with these issues.
Simple, everyday habits build lasting change.
Hello Tomo aims to create sustainable behaviour change through the use of community and accountability via their app tomo. They combine proven medical methods (Behavioural Action, a branch of Cognitive Behavioural therapy) with elements of social media to create a community that holds users accountable for their mental health.
Image sharing is powerful.
tomo identifies what healthy habits are and encourages users to share photos of these habits anonymously e.g getting out of bed or leaving the house for a walk. The app replaces likes and comments with anonymous posting and allows users to validate photos shared by others which is the equivalent of saying ‘yes, you did get out of bed this morning!’. Anonymity not only shields the user from external judgement the photos then become a form of accountability.
For someone who’s experienced problems with mental health sometimes these small mundane tasks can feel like huge victories. I believe its important to keep them going — a community to keep you accountable is invaluable. In our conversation, Gus highlighted their research in which they found that…
users are 80% more likely to do something for themselves if they validate photos from five other users compared to those who only validate one.
In other words, encouraging others has a positive feedback loop. As such tomo empowers individuals to turn simple activities into healthy habits. Sharing photos from your life to a community (Instagram’s initial premise) can be incredibly powerful.
In the UK, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year. Meanwhile, it can cost up to £180 and beyond to see a clinical psychologist for an hour. A tool which gives you access to a community pre-therapy may not only reduce your need to see one but can potentially save both the individual and the NHS a lot of money.
Community is important in the workplace
The pandemic has forced our working and private lives closer than ever before. However, despite the leaps made in mental health awareness the ongoing stigmatism around the subject continues. This is perhaps amplified in the workplace where leaders and decision makers are behind on implementing measures to support employee mental health.
Levell aims to solve this problem. It provides a staff check-in app, simple anonymous feedback, and monitoring dashboards. It allows teams to identify issues and provide the right support. Speaking with Madeleine, founder, she believes community is a core component to reducing burnout along with high job control, sufficient reward and value alignment.
To conclude…
It turns out social media isn’t all bad — at least it’s core mechanism of community building. Used effectively (i.e backed by medical research in a supported environment) it can help us fight depression and other mental health disorders, as well, if not better than other methods such as meditation. Whether its a digital community or individual relationships with close ones don’t forget to check in — a little can go a long way.
To learn more about mental health I can recommend listening to ‘Mental — The Podcast to Destigmatise Mental Health’
