33. Social Media Content and Anger in Parenthood

Building awareness about how anger-focused content is impacting you + anger management skills for offline

Passing along some anger resources before we get started…

🎦 How Social Media Makes Us Angry All the Time | Molly Crockett | Big Think: Short video that explored how social media algorithms elevate content that is “angry” in nature, to keep us more connected and engaged.

👉 Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide: This is a great FREE resource from the World Health Organization. Sharing information on coping during times of stress and maintaining alignment with personal values. Some great skills for dealing with anger in your offline life.

👉 Does Venting Your Feelings Actually Help? While letting your negative emotions out may feel good in the moment, science suggests it might make matters worse in the long run.There is a lot of venting happening on my social media feeds, maybe you relate? This article discusses ways venting can be helpful and potentially hurtful in our lives as both venters and those being vented to.

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On parenting social media, the topic of anger has become quite popular as we as a society have become more comfortable expressing less positive feelings publicly.

Where there was once shame in talking about the overwhelm, intense (often negative) emotions, regrets and relationship struggles that come from raising children, social media gave these conversations a platform and began to normalize them. Which I imagine has had a positive impact by letting people know they aren’t alone in how they might be feeling, especially if those feelings aren’t particularly rosy.

But I also think it’s important to note the ways in which parental anger has been used as a strategy for social media content engagement (likes, comments, etc) and profit (online courses) in the online business world. Because if we’re being honest, there is a difference between your fellow-parent friend venting about a rough night with their kids on their Facebook page, and someone who is profiting from talking about their’s and your “anger” on repeat.