BLOOM SCROLLING - MINDFULLY MANAGING THE ALGORITHMS

Bloom scrolling is choosing to focus on the stories and images that are good for our heart and mind. It's like fresh water for the soul.

MEANINGFUL AND MINDFUL WORDS

As part of my exploration of my Word of the Year "Mindful" I've come across a few terms recently that have caught my eye. They're words that have depth and meaning to them, and they carry a little "something" that I'd like to incorporate into my own life. I've chosen five to explore further over March - which I'm making into my month of meaningful, mindful reflection.

Bloom-scrolling is the next word in my March series....

WHAT IS BLOOM SCROLLING?

So what is bloom scrolling and why does it appeal to me so much? Lucy Bloom coined the term and she describes it as:

Bloom-scrolling is the intentional practice of consuming uplifting, positive, and inspiring social media content to counteract the mental drain of "doomscrolling". It involves actively curating feeds to include nature, art, and calming content, acting as a "soft rebellion" to nurture mental health rather than fueling anxiety.

This concept resonates with me on so many levels - it's the perfect way to step back from the doom and gloom that the algorithms thrust at us daily, it's a conscious choice to not interact with clickbait, to scroll past the dark and dismal aspects of our online feed, and instead we choose to focus on the stories and images that are good for our heart and mind. It's like fresh water for the soul.

SOME KEY ASPECTS OF BLOOM-SCROLLING

Intentional Consumption:

Instead of passively scrolling, you consciously choose to engage with content that brings joy, calm, or inspiration, because the more you click on this type of content, the more it will appear in your feed.

Because the algorithms are designed to draw us in and keep us hooked, they are strongly influenced by what we show interest in. Every interaction you have with them becomes data that teaches the algorithms what to feed you next.

Curate Your Feed:

Mute or unfollow negativity, and follow accounts that focus on nature, art, education, or uplifting stories. I was so amazed at the amount of views my post on Neurographic Art has received - and I think it ties in with people who are looking for creativity rather than complexity.

Choosing A Mindful Break:

Bloom-scrolling serves as a mental, emotional, and digital detox, and allows for a slower, more intentional, and restorative interaction with online content. It leads to healthier and more positive thought processes when we're engaging with aesthetic, calm content, rather than the stress-related doom and gloom that's wanting to grab our attention.

HOW TO PUT BLOOM-SCROLLING INTO PRACTICE

Lucy Bloom has some great tips from her article From Doom Scroll to Bloom Scroll she calls it "rewilding your feed" and that's such a cool description! She mentions 4 really helpful tips:

Create a niche account
Start a fresh Instagram or TikTok account with a specific focus on something you adore: French Bulldogs, architecture, crochet. Whatever makes your eyeballs widen with joy and your chest feel warm. Follow only accounts in that lane. This trains the algorithm from scratch.
Ruthlessly unfollow
If your main account has become a digital dumpster fire, start cleaning. Unfollow or mute anything that doesn’t serve you well. Especially your cousin’s MLM journey. Unfriend the people you have no real connection to. I do this when I think, ‘who even is that?’
Train the feed
Every like, comment, share, and even how long you pause on a reel tells the algorithm what to feed you more of. Pause on beauty, scroll past trash. Three dots on the bottom corner of an ad will give you the option of never seeing that ad ever again as long as you live and you can choose to say why. I always choose ‘irrelevant’.
Save what soothes
Bookmark posts that nourish you. Platforms notice when you save content, and they’ll serve you more of it.

BLOOM-SCROLLING VS DOOM-SCROLLING

Bloom-scrolling isn't about being ignorant of what's going on in the world, or putting our heads in the sand completely - it's more about proactively choosing what we give our attention to and finding a healthy balance. There is a lot of good in our world if we seek it out, there's a lot of good online if we keep intentionally clicking on and following those who share it; we just need to curate a filter that is authentic to our values and feeds our soul.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Are you a doomer or a bloomer? I don't know about you, but I'd much rather see art, positivity, joy, and all that nurtures my belief that "these are the good days" that we're living right here, right now.

Bloom Scrolling A Happier Way To Be Online
From Doom Scroll to Bloom Scroll
What Is Neurographic Art?
These Are The Good Days
Curating A Village Mentality

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