When my kids were little we had a playlist for car rides that featured a quirky group called the Dreyer Family Band. One of my favourite songs was called ‘Family Photograph’. In it the lovely-sounding (presumably) Mrs Dreyer sings "What you think about gets bigger, what you think about grows wings, what you think about becomes you, so let’s think about love, love, love, love, peace and love…”.
The Dreyer Family Band understood the importance of a positive mindset (and love) and minimising negativity in your life. With so many information sources vying for our attention many people today experience information overload. So much of that information might be mildly titillating in the moment, but it's not positive or useful and it doesn't add any real meaning to anything. It also takes up precious space inside our heads.
There’s no doubt news outlets and social media companies have a huge role to play in contributing to the erosion of people’s mental health. The way the COVID pandemic has been presented to us and how social media manages the algorithm to exploit our psychologies are the culprits here. There's now credible research which shows that the news is bad for us. While it's important to stay informed, like everything, it has a cost. Consuming the news can increase our likelihood of having a heart attack, influence our attitudes to immigrants and even change what we dream about.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, however. These businesses are based on getting and holding our attention, so we should not be surprised they do everything in their power to out-compete others who are also vying for a few minutes/hours of our time. Invoking our fear or outrage response is just one of their tools. To learn more about the use of persuasive technologies in social media check out ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix. It's great viewing and super important if you have kids with devices.
Social media can also be used for good. The trick is to separate signal from noise. Noise overwhelms, can depress our mood and is good at making us feel inadequate or agitated. We need to more consciously control these inputs, and be more mindful of our responses.
'Doom scrolling' is also a thing. How many of us have gone through phases of obsessively checking our devices for the latest COVID case and death numbers or the latest government announcement on lockdown measures or checked for an update on how far away the vaccine is? How does it all make us feel? I know I certainly don’t feel happy or positive after a doom scrolling session.
Psychologists have found the messages we let in influences whether we are 'high or low hope' people. Snyder and colleagues found that high hope people are goal oriented, have healthy self esteem, are positive and have a growth mindset. Sounds good, right? We should aim to be high hope people. What we view and experience directly influences what our future self looks and feels like. Control the inputs.
Nowadays I am acutely aware of what I expose myself to. I now choose what I read, watch and listen to much more deliberately. Less goes in, but what I consumer is more valuable, and there's a bit more space inside my head.
What can you do to manage mental pollution?
1. Turn off all notifications on your mobile phone.
2. Creating set times for looking at social media, the news and checking emails.
3. Think about what you need to be to allowing in today to be a high hope person.
4. Replace the negative stuff with good stuff. Create a reading list, podcast subscription, music playlist you love and TV or movies that elevate and educate you.
Finally, we can take the Dreyer Family Band’s advice and always remember that what we think about becomes us.