While opening a social media app — or engaging with any online content — we’re bombarded with negative messages and news. And on top of that, it seems there is always a new study about the negative impacts of social media on mental health and wellbeing. As if we didn’t know that already.
But not all effects of online media are bad. Sophie H. Janicke-Bowles, acknowledges that social media can also lead to digital flourishing, inspiration, loving connection, and social support. It depends on how the media is produced and, especially, consumed.
Third-year student Kylen Phillips knows firsthand about the impact that a positive message can have, whether it’s a brief reminder: “Good Morning! Do something that makes you happy today, you deserve it!” or a longer piece of advice: “Good morning! It’s a cold one, stay warm for sure! If you’re choosing to stay in, get your work done before going back to bed, watching TV or playing games, etc. Make this weekend carefree by caring this week.”
Phillips is known throughout campus for his motivational messages shared on the school’s Snapchat story. His messages are targeted at students and vary day to day but encourage self-care, attention to school studies, and engagement in healthy and productive habits.
Students have expressed their gratitude and reciprocated Phillips’ positivity. “I feel like Caitlin Clark sometimes,” he admitted when asked about his peers’ responses. “It’s a similar amount of love and attention. It’s something so small, but it feels so big.”
Personally, I would liken Phillips to Bob Ross, reminding us that we’re all just happy little trees doing our best to learn and grow, although he’s definitely his own celebrity in many ways.
As the current political and social state in the U.S. remains a source of anxiety and stress for many, Phillips emphasized the increased importance of sharing kind words: “The more positive messaging that you can put out there, especially for me and my identities as a Black man and also being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I think it shows that we aren’t villains, and we can root for everyone the same way they can root for us.”
It remains important to keep up to date on the news, on the current state of affairs. Even if they are bad. But rather than doom-scrolling, we must actively seek out positivity and work to create and share that content, too. It must be a mindful process.
Luckily, many news and social media pages — and Phillips — solely provide uplifting content and news. Accounts like “somegoodnews” and “weratedogs” on Meta and TikTok platforms, as well as the Good News Network, the Good News Hub, and the Good News Foundation, are just a few of the outlets dedicated to encouraging others. Other news sources, such as CBS, have separate pages that focus on the good news while the rest of their content can remain focused on current events.
“I want to remind people that everyone has power so that when they’re sliding up and telling me that ‘This motivates me,’ they’re giving me a positive affirmation as well that I’m doing something right, so they have the same amount of power that I have, and they’re giving that to me as I’m giving it to them,” Phillips said. “It’s a transaction.”