How to bring more emotional intelligence to social media and virtual communities

We are becoming more reliant on the internet and social media for our daily lives. Whether we use it for personal reasons (i.e checking out the latest vacation pictures posted by your highschool friends on Facebook) or detailing the progression of your career and the great professional accomplishments you’ve had on LinkedIn, it’s undeniable that social media has us hooked. As a matter of fact, there are 34.27 million users of social media in Canada this year, and this number is projected to increase to 28.93 million by 2027.1
Seeing that the majority of us spend time daily interacting on at least one of the social media platforms, how can we best utilize the platforms for their intended use without feeling overwhelmed?
You may be surprised to learn there’s an emotionally intelligent way to conduct oneself when utilizing social media platforms. Below are 5 tips on how emotional intelligence skills can help you the next time you engage online.2
Self Regard
Self Regard is the ability to respect and accept yourself the way you are. To have a healthy self-regard is to appreciate the positive aspects of yourself as well as accept the negative aspects and limitations you have, and still feel good about yourself.
Emotional Expression
Emotional Expression is openly expressing feelings both verbally and non-verbally in our interactions with others.
Interpersonal Relationship
Interpersonal Relationship skills include the ability to establish and maintain mutually beneficial and satisfying relationships characterized by trust and compassion.
Social Responsibility
Social Responsibility is the desire and ability to contribute to society, your social group, and to the welfare of others.
Impulse Control
Impulse Control is the ability to resist or delay an impulse, drive or temptation to act.
Footnotes
- See stats here: https://www.statista.com/topics/2729/social-networking-in-canada/.
- Stein, Steven J., and Howard E. Book. The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success. Jossey-Bass, 2011.
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