How many times do you check your Instagram every day? More times than you’d like to admit? Me too. Social media takes up a huge chunk of our time. And you don’t have to be scrolling through your feed long before you come across an inspirational graphic or a happy selfie captioned #SoberAF.
With the rise of social media came the rise of the social media influencer, here to influence your mood, opinions, buying decisions, and travel destinations. Because recovery is such a significant part of a recovered addict’s life, it makes sense that sober influencers would exist to influence the sober social media world.
Social Media in Recovery
Whether we like it or not, we live in a world that is undoubtedly dominated by social media. It’s a primary news source for many people, the first thing they do after waking up in the morning, and the easiest way to keep connected to friends and family.
If social media can have that big of an influence on our daily lives, you bet it can have an equally matched influence on your recovery.
Imagine waking up on a Sunday morning. You grab your phone to see what’s been happening in the world and the first thing you see is a stream of drunken party photos from that high school friend you haven’t actually spoken to in five years.
Basically, your first encounter after waking up is a recovery trigger.
Maybe an influencer you follow is on vacation posting aesthetically pleasing photos of her tropical cocktails. Or your ex-brother-in-law shares a video of the new bar he installed in his man cave. The examples are endless. The point is that it’s incredibly important to keep your social media recovery-friendly in order to prevent triggers and temptation.
We’ve compiled some easy tips to help keep your social media healthy and happy for your recovery. Check it out if you feel that your sober social media game is lacking.
Is the Sober Social Media Shift Good?
If you’re trying to keep your social media healthy for your recovery, basic steps include cutting out toxic individuals/brands and following those who share the same positive lifestyle. This process has become much easier due to a cultural shift in which social lives are becoming less alcohol-centric.
You might have noticed the shift in your own social media feed with hashtags like #SoberAF, #SoberCurious, and #SoberLife. It seems that more and more people see sobriety as cool.
This is a good shift in a general sense. After all, more people embracing a sober lifestyle means less pressure recovered alcoholics might feel to drink. It also helps problematic drinkers reflect on their drinking habits rather than simply accepting it as normal just because everyone else is constantly drinking too.
But it’s important to keep in mind that recovery isn’t a fad. It takes work — hard work.
As we’ve seen with everything else in the social media world, things will trend until it’s time to make way for new trends. That’s why you probably forgot all about trends like Kony 2012 and the #InMyFeelingsChallenge before reading them just now. And the latter was trending just last year! So, it’s not unrealistic to think that this widespread cultural shift towards things like #SoberIsSexy might not be long-lived.
Keeping in mind that your sobriety will still be a very significant and active part of your life should sober social media stop trending, the current shift can be very beneficial while it exists. Following sober influencers and hashtags can help you feel motivated, inspired, and connected while scrolling through your various feeds.
Caution: Sober Influencers Are Not Therapists
Sober influencers can be very beneficial in promoting positivity and community in recovery. However, there are some caveats.
There may be a few exceptions but, for the most part, sober influencers are not doctors. They may be well-versed in speaking on wellness and positivity, but they are likely not trained to treat trauma or other addiction roots.
Don’t rely too heavily on sober influencers, especially if you got sober because of addiction and not just for health reasons.
Filling your social media with #SoberAF and #SoberIsCool is great! But, no matter how many inspirational sober quotes you scroll through each of the 27 times you open Instagram today, sober social media cannot treat addiction.
If you or a loved one are struggling with substance addiction, our counselors are available 24/7: 855-737-7363