Despite the criticism it receives, some of which is justified, Instagram remains one of the most important social media platforms today. That's why it's worth taking advantage of all the valuable content that many users contribute and not just focusing on the negative aspects. If you're interested, let's explore how to use Instagram safely, healthily, and in a balanced way.
a matter of attitude
It's sometimes interesting to stop and think about how different social media platforms are being used today, not so much how others use them, but how we use them ourselves. Understanding our real motivations and what we ultimately find when we access them is important to know how much they contribute and whether anything can be done to change what we 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.
Toxic attitudes only serve to further polarize the user experience and leave them angry instead of enjoying the time spent on Instagram. So, the first thing to do is change your perspective on the platform and the attitude you adopt with your posts. Once you're clear on that, you can start taking advantage of the various tools it offers to further enhance your experience.
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 others designed for more specific actions, represent the first step towards safe Instagram use. But to achieve a much healthier, more rewarding, and balanced experience, it's important to embrace what's known as Digital Balance.
Instagram digital balance
If you were to stop and take a pen and paper to count how many notifications or attempts to get your attention you receive throughout the day, you'd probably be surprised. So much so that it's easy to wonder how it's possible that more than one person hasn't gone crazy after thousands of "just posted new content on their stories," "check out their latest post," "they're live now," etc.
These notifications and other features can be very helpful, but you don't need to have them active all the time. In fact, even though everything is active by default, it might be worthwhile to start with a completely different configuration, limiting everything from interactions to usage time.
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 step is to learn how to access Instagram's digital balance . To do this, simply follow these 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 to set a maximum amount of time you'll spend on the platform. This will depend on each person, their level of engagement, and the number of users they follow, but we recommend spending no more than 30 minutes a day. You can actually see the feeds and stories of the people you follow in much less time, leaving you plenty of time to discover new accounts if you'd like.
Regarding notifications , you don't really need any enabled . At most, you could leave on only those related to live streams if you follow accounts that stream regularly and it's about topics that genuinely interest you. If not, it's not the end of the world if you miss them. We miss so much more every day, so what does it matter if it's an Instagram Live?
Once you've controlled your screen time and notifications, clean up any accounts that offer little value or have shifted their focus to something you're uncomfortable with. You don't have to unfollow them if you don't want to; remember, you can mute accounts. But it's important that when you log into Instagram, the content you see always adds value and never detracts from it.
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, there are other options that allow you to report offensive or dangerous content. So yes, with a positive attitude and by taking advantage of every available tool, you can 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.