Communities we are part of are crucial for mental wellness. We evolved as social beings. It is literally our strength.
While one of the known causes of significantly making lives depressive are social platforms most of us use today - by selling more stuff and less contentment with what we already have.
Social platforms that are meant to connect us with our communities which are crucial for our mental wellness, yet they negatively impact mental health. Ironic. How?
If only we remove the “for profit” AND “for attention” ways of designing our social platforms, it could lead to better mental health as communities naturally tend to taking care of themselves while continuing to interact in all creative ways of social interactions that platforms enable.
Social platforms could be designed in a ’not for profit’ and ‘not for attention’ ways through no paid ads and finite scrolling respectively.
Such alternatives could be key to people helping people to improve the state of mental health collectively.
Such redesign could also help people take necessary climate action as a consequence. I share some of the ways it helps on this grove thread.
I hope this helps. 