2021 marks a decade since my foray into social media brand communication as a full time career. Social media has influenced a huge part of our lifestyle and culture. Rarely did anyone whip out their phone to snap that delicious spread they were about to sink their teeth into before Instagram. Or did anyone think of creating a hashtag for their wedding day. Tourism was focused on showing people places and things, but now, locations are labeled 'aesthetic' and Instagrammable. Brands communicate in shareable memes and engage in random banter on Twitter. If anyone told me this would be the case back then, I'd have laughed.

Today, 9 in 10 internet users use it to consume content on social media, and in the last two years of the pandemic, the time spent on it and the number of users has grown exponentially. Boomers and others who don't understand its addictive allure, call it 'useless' or 'harmful' or 'ruining kids' lives', when their own parents probably said the same about television or the radio.

They're right in a way though. There's a lot of garbage out there. The fact is that the sheer volume of information or 'digital clutter' out there is staggering. In an article from Project Bibliotherapy's 42 Good Reads of the Internet, the problem was described as not about looking for a needle in a haystack, but having millions of haystacks to choose from.

Finding meaning and quality in a sea of mediocrity

I believe the term these days is 'curation'.
Social media algorithms are based on your own consumption patterns. Garbage in, garbage out. It's also based on the patterns of those you choose to follow and surround yourself with. With retargeting, sometimes your viewing choices follow you everywhere like an over enthu pup.

So when someone says Instagram is crap, or Twitter is crap, or Tik Tok is crap, I call bs.

For every person who said Tik Tok was crap, I raise them thousands of accounts that craft beautiful objects, share amazing book recommendations, educate others on mental health and sexual wellness, or create inspirational and creative content.

For every hateful troll or spammy Twitter handle, I raise you a delightful community of writers we grew up with or discovered recently, who often tweet their work, their findings or musings on life. Micro, local communities

For every fruity-emoji sexually explicit or sanghi Clubhouse room, I raise you hundreds of rooms with conversations on entrepreneurs, startups, mental wellness, books, music, and so much more.

You don't have to have a million friends on Facebook. Or follow everything on Twitter or Instagram. Or even be in all the Whatsapp groups. The old adage about being known by the company you keep, applies here too. There's a whole world of excellent content, if you choose to seek it.

How to be mindful of what you consume

Resist the urge to accept every person who adds you to Facebook. Or, if you like to go deeper and be hyper-organized like my ADHD self, just use the 'unfollow' option if you'd like to remain friends but not see that on your feed.

Keyword search and hashtags are your friend on Instagram too! Search for things YOU would like to see. Save posts you like into folders. Follow hashtags and people you want to. And use the 'I'm not interested in this' option diligently. For example, my main Instagram account explore page is full of the following - animals, books, social media tips and wellness tips. And I follow a ton of small businesses and inspirational people and brands.

Most of all, take a break. I learnt from someone this year on the importance of monitoring the time you spend on social media. The average user spends 2 hours and 27 minutes. Given how a one-minute red-light or a 5 second YouTube ad to skip feels like an eternity, imagine what you could do with two whole hours!

I use the 'Digital Well-Being' option on my phone that turns my phone silent and in grayscale with most notifications off after 9.30pm. While sometimes ad hoc requests aren't avoidable, this does help.

Oh and avoid mainstream Indian news media if you'd like your grey cells to stay intact. I'd recommend independent media platforms or artists.

Streamline your consumption patterns. And please, read more. I know video will soon comprise 84% of all internet traffic as per a recent social media scheduling tool, but never stop reading. Books, articles, poetry, blogs, written content by quality creators on social media. Read.

- NANDINI SWAMINATHAN