Our social media feeds can push us to the dark side, with content full of strife and anger, or videos that make us feel bad about ourselves.
But there is a way to reprogram what you see by making different choices. And a new study finds three to five minutes of inspiring content each day can help you feel more positive.
Researchers scoured the internet for videos that elicited "wow" emojis or had gone viral. They identified "underdog" narratives, where a person overcomes adversity, such as the real life story of Sean Swarner, a cancer survivor who set out to climb Mt. Everest. He had battled Hodgkin lymphoma, and had only one functioning lung.
As part of the study, participants watched a video of Swarner describing his quest, and other videos like it, of people succeeding against the odds.
It turns out that watching someone overcome adversity can make us feel good. "We found that people felt more hopeful after watching the inspiring videos, " says study author Robin Nabi of UC Santa Barbara. "And that hope predicted lower stress over the next ten days," she says.
The study included about a thousand adults from across the U.S., ages 18 to 86. One group watched an inspiring video, about three to five minutes in length, every day for five days. Others watched comedy, while another group did a few minutes of meditation, and a control group didn't watch any media. The participants completed surveys at the beginning and end of the study to assess changes in feelings of hope and stress.
Comedy didn't move the needle much. People who watched comedy did not differ from the control group, but both the inspiring videos and the meditation significantly increased hope.
"We were actually quite surprised at how similar the effects of the inspiring videos were to the group that meditated," Nabi says. "Both groups felt more hope," she explains — and that predicted less stress 10 days later. The research is published in Psychology of Popular Media, a publication of the American Psychological Association.
Nabi says the effects were not dramatic, because nothing as simple as watching a few videos can have a massive effect on your long-term well-being. Our moods and emotions are complicated, and influenced by multiple factors. But even though the effects are small, she says they are still significant.
"These small effects can accrue over time," says Nabi. Hopefulness helps us feel like we can deal with the things causing the stress in our lives. "So the question is: What happens when we make this a habit?" she says.
Positive content leads to positive feelings
"This finding is not a surprise at all to me, " says Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University who studies the impact of positive emotions. "It's great to have the science tell us what we sort of know intuitively — that if we look at positive content, we're going to feel more positive and more hope," she says.
In the study, participants were sent the videos, and agreed to watch as part of the study. This is different from what happens when we simply start scrolling, so Moskowitz says the challenge is to take this finding and implement it in your own life.
"How can you change your focus to find the more positive things in your feed to help you sustain hope?" It's tricky, she acknowledges.
Social media algorithms can nudge us towards the negative because highly arousing or thrilling content tends to capture our attention and keep us on the apps, even when it's negative, explains media researcher Allison Eden of Michigan State University.
"Media can be a powerful tool for coping and mood management," she says. But we have to proactively choose the positive.
And here's another challenge: Her research shows people tend to seek out scary or sad content when they're in bad moods, rather than something that will bring joy or calm. In fact, that preference got stronger when their mood worsened," Eden says.
We don't always connect the dots between what we're watching and how it makes us feel, whether it's the movies we choose on streaming apps or the content in our social media feeds.
Eden says there are multiple strategies to "counterprogram" your social feeds, with the intention of seeing more "feel good" content. Here are three things to try:
1. Seed your feed with the positive
"Make an effort that the first couple of things that you search for every day are things that are going to put you in a positive frame," Eden says. Find hashtags that match your interests, such as positive body image, wildlife, puppies, sports moments, or content that aligns with your hobbies whether its mahjong, pickleball or your musical interests, anything that could help you feel good.
2. Keep a media log
Every time you watch something ask yourself how you feel. Write down your responses. Tracking will help you connect the dots between your media use and your mood. After a few weeks you may see a pattern of how your choices influence your well-being.
3. Wipe your feed
If you see too much anxiety-evoking content or content you don't like, you can start over by deleting your account and opening a new one. "I do this myself," Eden says, from time to time, as a re-set. This is an opportunity to check in with whether your feed is working for you — or against you, and reset your online presence. Think of it as a "digital cleanse" or detox. You can also opt for a weekly break, such as a 24 hour pause from social media, to get distance.
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