Can Social Media Improve Your Mental Health? 6 Ways Women Are Turning Scrolling Into Self-Care

Social media often gets a bad rap when it comes to mental health and, to some extent, it’s justified. Constant comparison and endless doom-scrolling aren’t exactly healthy habits. But what if we’re not comparing ourselves at all? What if we’re intentionally following people and brands that inspire us? And what if our scrolling isn’t doom-filled, but instead a way to recharge by laughing at a few memes, sparking new ideas, and finding inspiration?

I am a firm defender of social media because during some of my harder times, it has been a lifeline. Not in an escapist way, but in the gentler, quieter sense of having a window into beauty and goodness when the world around me felt grey. A constant reminder that the world and life itself goes beyond my bad day or difficult situation.

Personally, social media has given me more reasons to look up than to look down. And ultimately, it is here to stay, so we might as well make an effort to build a good relationship with the algorithms. So no, this isn’t a defense of TikTok spirals at 2 a.m., but it is a reminder and basic guide covering the way social media can be used with dignity, with gentleness, and with purpose.

Curate for Beauty, Not for Envy

Your feed is your emotional wallpaper. Let that sink in. Every time you open your phone, you’re decorating your mind with other people’s ideas, images, opinions, and aesthetics. So choose wisely.

Don’t follow people who make you feel less-than, or influencers who post for shock value or unattainable envy. Follow people who create beauty. The kind that lights you up or sparks your creativity. That could mean someone whose photography skills leave you in constant awe, or someone who shares thoughtful words and gorgeous outfits, or someone who’s funny in a way that feels healing rather than snarky.

Your feed can either feel like a noisy cafeteria or a peaceful gallery. You get to decide. Don’t feel obligated to follow anyone just because they’re popular. Be very selective over who you allow into your feed because ultimately that’s who you are allowing in your mind. 

Post With Purpose, Not for Approval

If you’ve ever found yourself hovering over the "Share" button, wondering if your caption is too much or not enough, you’re not alone. But here’s a shift that helped me: Post as a celebration, not a performance. Those are the posts you won’t regret. 

You’re not posting to prove your worth and proving to others that your life is great. You’re posting to mark your growth, share beauty, inspire joy, or highlight the good. Social media is powerful because it turns your memories into a mosaic. So ask yourself: “Why am I posting this?” Is it to show off? To get likes? Or is it to remember this moment, to honor this feeling, to offer something worthwhile?

Social media is powerful because it turns your memories into a mosaic.

Aspirational content isn’t bad, it’s essential. It reminds us what’s possible. But when aspiration becomes a desperate plea for attention, it backfires. Make your online presence something that adds value to the world and to your own memory bank.

Let Creativity Be Your Medicine

You don’t need to be a content creator to use social media creatively. Editing a photo, pairing the perfect audio with a video, or writing a meaningful caption activates parts of your brain that are scientifically proven to improve mental health. If you're doing it as a way to create something beautiful, witty, or creative that resonates with you instead of simply seeking to please the algorithm, creating content will actually make you happy. 

Creativity is catharsis. It pulls you out of your overthinking mind and into the present moment. When you're engaged in a creative pursuit, your brain will quickly focus on that and go into “play mode” and take you out of the stress or alert mode we spend most of our day on.

Anchor Yourself Before You Scroll

This one’s simple but surprisingly life-changing: check in with yourself before you check in online.

If you’re already feeling fragile, overwhelmed, or disconnected, scrolling will only amplify those feelings. You can spiral into stalking people who’ve hurt you, or you can intentionally seek out things that bring you peace—funny memes, beautiful images, or even better, voices from people who’ve walked through similar struggles and can offer real encouragement. It all comes down to mental positioning. The algorithm doesn’t care about your emotional state; it only reflects what you linger on. So choose carefully. Dwell on the good, even when it feels like the harder choice.

Before you open your phone, ask: “What do I want to feel right now?” or “What do I need right now?” If it’s peace, then choose content that creates peace. If it’s hope, then seek out creators who post about healing, recovery, beauty, or faith. If it’s joy, go to the memes or the baby goats or the wholesome gossip. But know your aim.

And please, for the love of your nervous system, don’t make scrolling the first or last thing you do in a day. Your brain is especially vulnerable in those windows, and what you feed it will stick. Instead, use that time to ground yourself: read a book, pray, journal, or simply sit with your own thoughts. Let your day begin and end with you—not with whatever the algorithm throws your way.

The Algorithm Is a Mirror, Use It Wisely

Here’s a secret: the algorithm doesn’t hate you. It just reflects you. What you pause on, it feeds. What you skip, it forgets. So instead of thinking of your feed as something you’re stuck with, treat it like a garden.

Prune what drains you. Water what delights you. Block the weeds.

Follow creators who make you feel seen, but also challenged. Follow people who’ve survived what you’re going through and made art out of it. Follow accounts that speak to your future self, not just your current one. Social media is at its best when it's aspirational. Follow friends and influencers who you are genuinely happy for and not just jealous of. 

Instead of thinking of your feed as something you’re stuck with, treat it like a garden.

They say you’re the average of your five closest friends—I’d argue you’re also the average of the accounts you follow. What you consume shapes you, so choose carefully.

If your explore page feels toxic, reset it. Unfollow, mute, clean up your digital environment. You are not obligated to consume content that makes you anxious just because everyone else is.

Let Social Media Lift You Up

I first realized the power of social media for good a few years ago, after one of my closest friends betrayed me and went after my boyfriend. The shock was gutting, the pain deeply disorienting. And while I had a wonderful support system in real life, what truly helped me start to heal was stumbling across TikToks from women who had walked through the same kind of heartbreak. Some were still raw in it, some laughed about it, others offered practical advice—but all of it lightened the weight. It’s true what they say: our problems feel smaller when we realize we don’t carry them alone. And while I never aired my own dirty laundry online, it was both healing and encouraging to see so many women who had made it to the other side of the pain.

Social media can easily bring you out of isolation even if you're not ready to talk about it. And for pretty much every hard season: divorce, eating disorders, grief, etc, there’s someone out there sharing a story filled with hope on social media.

There's something so powerful about seeing someone else survive what you’re just beginning to understand. Their joy doesn’t trigger you, it invites you forward and slowly, without even realizing it, you start becoming that person for someone else.

Social media can be a source of hope when you choose to follow people with roots. People who know how to walk through fire. People who post joyful content, not because they’ve never known darkness, but because they’ve worked hard to carry it. Those are the people you should follow. 

We live in a world where we’re constantly told to disconnect. But maybe the answer isn’t to log off forever. Maybe the answer is to log on with intention. By treating your online life like your offline one: with care, boundaries, creativity, and purpose, you're bound to unlock a whole lot of goodness. Because when used wisely, social media isn’t a threat to your mental health, it’s a tool for healing and personal growth.