3. I go on my phone for escapism

I’m confident that a lot of my social media use – especially over the weekend or just before bed – is down to me trying to forget personal problems and worries. Maybe this could be seen as a component of technological addiction, but I know that I’m not alone in this; when I looked at social media addiction I referred to a study that found smartphone use makes us feel happier, up to a point. I love Twitter for staying up to date with news, I love Instagram to see what my friends are up to and to exercise my photography skills. In fact, that I find so much happiness on my smartphone is probably why I find my job so fulfilling.

I spoke to Maggy Vaneijk, BBC Three’s Social Media Manager. She’s just released a self-help book about her quest for happiness “in a world defined by her depression,” and I asked her how her social media use could fit in with mental well-being.

“I think your social media feeds are what you make of them,” she says. She used to do what many of us still do; getting caught up in the comparison trap on Instagram, lurking on her boyfriends’ ex-girlfriends’ profiles. She’s since turned her feeds into a safe space with “lots of golden retrievers” – and thinks that “if you scroll through and feel yourself getting down and miserable you need to do something about it.

“Follow people you admire but don’t feel jealous about. Since embracing the mental health community I’ve found loads more like-minded spirits, not just people who want to show off their engagement rings.”

Despite this, she thinks she is online too much; she enforces detoxes on holiday but finds it hard to enforce day to day. “You need to be able to be reactive to do your job well.”

What now?

Just like Maggy, I think I’d be worse at my job if I wasn’t constantly consuming social content. But if #LikeMinded has taught me anything, it’s that the point where excessive social media use tips into a pathological problem is hazy. One questionnaire psychologists use to figure out whether you have a social media addiction has two telling statements, which are certainly relevant to me: “I use social media to forget about personal problems” and “I spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planning how to use it”. The whole point of my job is to hook people on BBC Future and BBC Culture’s content online; isn’t it therefore likely I get hooked in too?

If social media usage is causing undue stress, then maybe people like me should start looking at our jobs a little more like professional wine-tasters do. We’re spending an awful lot of time online in a way that has been linked to mental health problems and even addiction. Why aren’t all wine-tasters alcoholics? They find a work-life balance, have boundaries in place and understand where their limits are. They even take seemingly small measures like spitting wine out into a nearby bucket.

I’m really pleased that I did this experiment. Comparing myself to other people has made me self-appraise and think about how I could de-stress. As part of #LikeMinded we’re asking you, our readers, what tips you have for a healthy and happy life on social media. We hope this has encouraged you to think about your own online habits. As for me, something tells me that I won’t be putting my phone down anytime soon.

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