Despite the criticism that many make, in some cases with some reason, Instagram continues to be one of the most important social networks of the moment. That is why it is worth taking advantage of all that valuable content that many users provide and not just keep the negative part. If you're interested, let's see how to use Instagram in a safe, healthy and balanced way.
a matter of attitude
From time to time it is interesting to stop and think about how the different social platforms are being used at present, but not so much in how others use them but oneself. Knowing what the real motivations are and what you finally find when accessing is important to know to what extent it contributes and if something can be done to change what you don't like.
However, both what motivates to enter and what it contributes is closely related to one's own attitude. If when searching for content or performing interactions it is done in a toxic way, it is most likely that everything will end up becoming a mountain of negative acts that will not benefit anything at the end of the day.
The toxic attitudes only manage to polarize even more and end up angry instead of enjoying the time that is invested in Instagram. So, the first thing to do is change the way you see the network and the attitude that is maintained with the publications. When all this is clear, you can start to take advantage of the different tools that it offers to improve the experience even more.
Instagram security tools
Now yes, you are determined to use Instagram in a healthy way, to share moments or simply enjoy those topics that interest you. How do you do it? Well, starting using security tools.
If your feed has become a bit chaotic, with negative content, users who annoy you with their posts or comments, nothing better than taking advantage of all these options:
- Block accounts: It is not necessary to explain much, if an account that appears on a recurring or occasional basis publishes content that you do not like and is doing you harm, with this tool you can forget about it
- Block commenters: It is true that one of the attractions of social networks is their ability to connect with others and the interaction they allow, but not everyone always comments with respect and reasonedly arguing their opinions. Therefore, if someone is passed in your publications you can block it. Also, because of how this option works, he will continue to see his comments on your content, but no one else. A clear "Don't feed the troll" that avoids being noticed and can create new accounts to continue bothering
- Control comments: Another interesting option to improve the experience is to control who can or cannot comment on your posts. In this way, you will be able to hide those that are offensive to filter those that use some words or emojis that you do not like. Finally, you can always eliminate all those that slip in and do not contribute anything
- Mute an account: This other tool that Instagram offers is interesting because without having to unfollow said profile, it allows you that nothing that they publish appears in your feed.
All these tools plus the rest that are already aimed at carrying out more specific actions provide the first step towards a safe use of Instagram. But in order to achieve a much healthier and more rewarding experience along with balance, it is important to rely on what is called Digital balance.
Instagram digital balance
If you stop with paper and pencil in hand to write down how many notifications or attempts to get your attention you receive throughout the day, it is very likely that you will be surprised. So much so that it is easy to think how it is possible that more than one has not ended up crazy after thousands of "he just published new content in his stories", "look at the latest publication", "he is broadcasting live", etc.
These notices as well as other elements can be of great help, but you don't have to have them active at all times. What's more, although everything is active by default, it would still be interesting to start with a completely opposite configuration where it is limited from interactions to the time of use.
Since this does not happen and the reason is something that we all already know (these platforms want us to use them for as long as possible), what can be done is to take advantage of the tools that they have also been offering for some time and that fall within the scope of which they call as digital balance.
These options are independent of those that the iOS and Android operating systems also offer for their part. So it never hurts to know what they offer to see to what extent they can be useful in your day to day and the way you use the network.
The first thing is to know how to access the digital balance of Instagram. To do this you just have to follow the following steps:
- Open the Instagram app
- Access your profile and then Settings
- Select Your Activity
- Finally, the Time section
In this section you will see the average daily time you use the app and an option that allows you to manage the daily time you spend on the app and notification settings. With these three options, what you can achieve in order to improve the user experience is quite interesting.
- See activity It is the most visual way to have a clear x-ray of the time you have spent consulting Instagram during the last seven days. Although here you have to take into account that it also adds the time of use when you are publishing content. So you have to know how to do the correct readings to know if it takes a lot of time because you go in to look and you don't go out or if it is because you are uploading photos, stories, etc.
- Schedule daily reminder It is one of the most useful notifications that you can receive from Instagram since it alerts you when you exceed a previously established time. If you only want to use the network for 30 minutes a day, set that maximum and when you go over it it will tell you. So you will be aware of what you invest every day or when you use it
- Notification settings It is the last option and, in turn, within it, there are many more notifications so that you have exact control over what you do or do not want to receive. Although if you want to have full control of the use, for all notifications
How to use Instagram in a healthy and balanced way
With all this already known, what can you do to maintain a healthy balance and use of Instagram? Well, it really is very easy, but it requires you to apply the changes from day one and not be tempted to skip what you define.
The first step is establish the maximum time that you are going to invest in the platform. Here it will depend on each one, their involvement and the number of users they follow, but we would recommend that you spend no more than 30 minutes a day. Really in much less time you can see the feed and the stories of the people you follow, leaving you time to discover new accounts if you feel like it.
Regarding the notifications, you don't really need any active. At most you could leave only the ones that affect the direct ones if you follow accounts that do them on a recurring basis and are on topics that really interest you. If not, it's also no big deal if you miss it. We really miss a lot more every day, so who cares if it's also an IG stream.
Controlled the time of use and notifications, Do a cleaning of all those accounts that contribute little or they have changed their theme to one that you are not comfortable with. You don't need to unfollow them if you don't want to, remember that there are options to silence accounts. But it is important that when you enter Instagram the content you see always adds up and never subtracts.
It is true that there will always be things that do not quite add up to you, such as the suggested posts that the network usually shows now to get you hooked a little more, although they say that they are suggestions to help you discover new profiles. But you can also reduce these elements if you indicate that you are not interested in them from the three-point menu of the publication.
In addition, to all this we must add other more options that allow report offensive or dangerous content. So yes, with a good attitude and taking advantage of every available tool you can get to enjoy Instagram in a healthy and balanced way.
And that's good, because there is a lot of useful content that you can take advantage of and enjoy in those leisure time or even take advantage of all its possibilities for professional topics. But if after trying it you see that it does not contribute to you, then delete it.