Digital wellness
How we spend our time online can affect how we feel offline. Here are some ways to help prioritize your digital wellness.
What is digital wellness?
Digital wellness is about remaining safe and mindful of your online experiences. It can include exploring parts of your identity by connecting with people in positive ways across the internet. Or using your platform to affect change in your community. A cornerstone of digital wellness is leaving a clean digital footprint each time you post or engage online.
At Meta, we prioritize digital wellness for everyone that uses our technologies. We consult with external experts in the digital health sphere to help us innovate responsibly and with intention. That's why we host global safety summits and create resources that encourage youth to use tech platforms for the greater good.
How to prioritize digital wellness.
Good digital habits are critical to establishing and maintaining digital wellness. For example:
- Lead by example when posting. Post truthfully, and when tagging others, do so in a positive and inclusive manner.
- Foster healthy interactions online. Keep your network limited to those who you know will be mutually respectful. Mute, unfollow or block anyone whose posts or interactions make you uncomfortable.
- Consider filling your feed with handles or hashtags that inspire, educate or inform you.
- If you're the parent of a teen on Instagram, visit our guide to helping your child navigate the app safely.
Balance and manage screen time.
A healthy approach to digital usage is all about balance. Below are some tactics you can use to control how much you, or your teens, spend time online.
- Track your usage and set time limits on your apps. Depending on your device, you can do this directly through Facebook and Instagram.
- Stay engaged rather than passively scrolling through your Feed. Just like in person, interacting with people you care about can be beneficial. Watching others from the sidelines can make you feel worse.
- Remember that not all screen time is equal. This is also true for youth since some online games and activities can be beneficial to their development.
- Determine when or whether you want to get notifications and what they're about. You can customize the types of notifications you receive from groups or Pages.
Use digital tools to improve wellness.
Digital wellness tools allow you to take a proactive approach to your well-being. Here are some starting points:
- Explore guides on Instagram. We rolled this feature out so creators can easily share advice for prioritizing well-being, maintaining connections and managing anxiety or grief.
- Take advantage of privacy features across the platforms you use. Feeling safe is key for your overall health, both online and off.
- Use free in-app health perks like the WHO’s Health Alert chatbot on WhatsApp. The bot shares global health updates, as well as well-being resources like exercises to help you get grounded and reduce stress.
- If you're the parent of a teen on Instagram, visit our guide to helping your child navigate the platform safely.
Manage privacy settings on Facebook
Manage privacy settings on Messenger
Manage privacy settings on Instagram
Manage privacy settings on WhatsApp
Support the digital wellness of your family.
Digital wellness is part of your family's overall relationship with online platforms. For expert-backed advice on media usage by child age group, see our guide done in partnership with the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital which addresses a range of media-related health concerns. Each section includes actionable tips for common scenarios, complemented by science-based context.
