Mumsnet is terrible for my mental health

How do you set that up? (Or will I have to wait until tomorrow to find out now?)

There are definitely things I find useful, like advice with child development or just general stuff, and some things are just a nice way to pass a bit of time like the fashion boards.

But yeah, beyond that, it can become addictive in a bit of a negative way, like some of the AIBU are awful.

It's about trying to notice when it's getting to the tipping point and get yourself off before getting drawn into anything nasty!

Read the Meghan and Harry threads. Then you’ll realise that comparably, you’re fine

Do you use any other social media or chat forums?

Its all the mans fault, he is abusive.

leave the bastard

I think you should think about what you want to get out of using it, what actually happens when you use it and then adjust the time on it accordingly.

It was clear!

And clear to me - and I am as thick as can be

Tell us more OP. What do you mean by mental health? Does Moment cause you brain fog, persistent sadness, excessive worry, intense fear, mood swings, or feeling emotionally numb?

Do you have poor mental health or full blown mental illness / disorder?

What's affecting you the most? Reading posts? Posting? Certain threads, certain posters? Is it when people disagree with you?

If you are able to, try and delete your account and find a real life occupation.

If you are unable to and your well-being and productivity suffer, go and see the GP. HTH.

I hope though that’s the PPs comment about ducks in a row made you laugh - it did me . Maybe thats why we are still here

I get upset where people are being awful to children but beyond that I can often see the funny side. Or at least an interesting side to what and how people trigger.

That's so well put!

I've blocked AIBU from appearing in my Active Convos before and it genuinely makes it a much less stressful experience.

But also I made a decision a while ago not to invest time arguing online because quite frequently, the person you are arguing with isn't actually taking the discussion in good faith.

Sometimes they are trolls or bots or extremely entrenched in an agenda - so they will not be swayed no matter what you say.

Sometimes they are playing some kind of points game which is a bit jarring if you didn't know you were enrolled in a game.

Sometimes they have just had their own experiences which have led to very strong/skewed opinions/understanding of a topic.

In general if I am finding a thread stressful or upsetting I am much more flippant with just hiding the thread now. Or stopping replying halfway through and doing something else.

There are great people and causes and things which genuinely deserve your anger and upset - MN is not one of them. Don't give away your emotional energy like that

It's this kind of exchange that people are meaning when they say it's bad for their MH!

I know what you mean Op, but I also sort of find it fascinating seeing how people respond.

I find it distracts me when working. I keep jumping to notifications out of curiosity whenever I hit a snag in what I am doing. I'm not "on the clock" but it's still inefficient.

Yup, it’s completely toxic. Exerts an evil fascination, like sticking your tongue in a hole in your tooth.

You can still read mumsnet without an account

It was crystal clear to me too.

I feel like it's bad for me but I get sucked in to the 'Trending' headlines
Whenever we go on holiday or days out I hardly touch my phone and it feels great, I just need to detox but struggle to actually do it

Delete the account. Sorted. ✔️

Which boards are you using mostly? The boards with the highest traffic get the most aggressive posters.

I recommend sticking more to the hobby boards on stuff like books, films, TV. If wanting parenting advice, the boards for different age groups might be better than AIBU or Chat. Sending a 🫂.

I am not on other forms of SM as they are bad for my MH (especially now with the rise of the far right and misogyny on the rise).

You could ask MN to block your account?

I only browse MN on one web browser on my phone that I have set a time limit for 30 minutes max per day. After that, the app for the browser locks.

I've done the same for all my social media apps.

It has made a huge difference to my mental health overall.

There are very specific parts that are wholesome and bring me joy (looking at you, Christmas board), but anything more general that garners a wider audience, especially active or trending, yes I find it negative on several levels, the main one being how some people are willing to treat/talk to people who as far as they know are genuinely struggling.

YAnBU I’m now on diet pills and thinking my DH is going to cheat on me!

Sorry to hear that OP. Sometimes I spend too much time on here and get drawn into arguments and then don’t seem to be able to tear myself away and that isn’t good for my mental health.

The worst thing online for my MH though is FB comment sections- especially anything to do with feminism; the replies make me despair.

I wish I had enough willpower to stay offline as default and only use the internet for essential tasks. But I have zero willpower, sadly. The invention of smartphones was the worst possible invention for someone like me.