Internet Self-Care Day Date in the current year: August 21, 2024

The term “self-care” typically refers to the practice of doing activities that help you avoid stress, stay healthy, and manage illness when it does occur. These activities include, but are not limited to, healthy sleep, exercise, personal hygiene, hobbies, and other activities one enjoys or needs to promote health. Routine self-care helps prevent illness, improves physical and mental health, and enhances quality of life.

The origins of Internet Self-Care Day are unclear, but it’s great that someone came up with the idea of such a holiday because it is important to remind people that they deserve the right to take some time to focus on themselves every now and then. The idea behind the holiday is to encourage people to find online resources that will help them take care of themselves and improve their overall well-being.

But how exactly does one do it? The Internet is vast, and there are a lot of websites that can do more harm then good to your well-being. Let us offer a few tips on finding the best self-care resources and ensuring that the time you spend online is beneficial for you.

Find a community of people who are going through the same thing. If you’ve found yourself in a tough situation and need advice and support from those who are going through the same thing, you can look for Facebook groups, Reddit subreddits, or Discord servers where you can find connection and healing. Take a closer look at the communities you’ve found before sharing your struggles: you need to make sure that conversations are friendly and constructive and that moderators do their job to keep the community a safe space for all its members.

Look for blogs and free online courses that will help you express yourself. Creative outlets are a great way to reduce stress and anxiety. Think of a creative hobby you have always wanted to try (drawing, painting, coloring, crafts, writing, cooking, etc.) and look for resources with free tips and tutorials: blogs, YouTube videos, free courses at Coursera and Class Central, TED Talks, podcasts, etc.

Look for uplifting content. It may not seem like much but cute puppy videos and other positive content can be good for your mental health. Consuming uplifting content and avoiding toxic and negative content will do wonders for you.

Unfollow anything (and anyone) that doesn’t make you feel good. Think of it as the KonMari Method applied to social media: if something doesn’t spark joy, unfollow it. In the age of social media algorithms, it is important to eliminate things that might make you upset from your timeline so that algorithms don’t show you more of such things.

Look for reliable health resources. Google search results aren’t always trustworthy, so we recommend that you look up information on physical and mental health on top ranking consumer health information websites such as MedlinePlus, Mayo Clinic, WebMD, Healthline, CDC, etc.