Social media is an integral part of our contemporary culture. It’s everywhere and we are constantly engaging with technology and each other in the form of Instagram, Facebook, podcasts, dating apps, and more. Social media can be a tricky field to navigate and can often prove triggering or addictive in and of itself. Let’s take a look at some positive and negative ways to use social media while on your sobriety journey.
Building a Technological Community
Do: Find sober friends through hashtags, the I Am Sober app, and the Sober Grid. Social media can be a wonderful resource for those who want to find more of a sober community online. There are apps, hashtags to search on Instagram, and sober communities, forums, and apps.
Don’t: Use social media to glorify substances. Instagram is a big place and endless scrolling can often lead to seeing friends from old circles. Don’t get caught in the web of looking at old photos of yourself or your friend group using drugs or alcohol. Social media can be wonderful for making and solidifying memories. However, if you catch yourself clicking back through photos from the past and glorifying your active addiction phase, it might be time to step away from the iPhone.
Sharing Your Sobriety Journey
Do: Share your story with others, connect, and be transparent. Social media can be a great way to share your journey with your friends and acquaintances and let others know about your new lifestyle and healing path.
Don’t: Overshare, talk about other people you know in recovery, or shame people for their own substance use. There’s a fine line between sharing and oversharing, and it’s one that’s easy to cross on social media. The rules of recovery still apply. Respect the privacy of your sober friends, keep an open and non-judging mind, and just do you. If someone is triggering you, you don’t need to call them out on social media. That’s the wonderful thing about the world of technological communication. You can simply click “unfollow.”
Tree House Recovery of Orange County, California is a premier men’s addiction treatment facility that uses eight different modalities to help our men become the best versions of themselves they can be. We teach our men that every day of their journey is something to celebrate, and that recovery isn’t a sprint– it’s a marathon. To get started with Tree House Recovery, call us today at (855) 202-2138.
