Drinking and Social Media: 4 Tips for Guarding Your Recovery

If you are in recovery from drug or alcohol use disorder, triggers hold a lot of power. A trigger can be a smell, a song, or the sound of ice clinking in a glass. It can also be a social media post that depicts a cold can of beer or friends gathered around a fire pit, joyously having drinks. In recovery, it is important to guard yourself well, including what you see and where you go, to avoid these types of triggers. Unfortunately, social media is not always your friend, especially if you are in recovery and have attended a substance abuse treatment program. Drinking and social media can be a toxic combination. Here is what we recommend at The Right Step on how to protect yourself during your social media interactions.

Vet Your Friend’s List

Recovery and attending an alcohol addiction treatment center is the start of your new life. It is your second chance. As such, keeping close ties with those who are still using is not recommended. Before viewing your social media feed, take time to vet the list of people you claim as friends. You can mute them if unfriending seems too aggressive, but it is important to separate yourself from those who routinely post good-time pics involving drugs or alcohol. In general, make sure your timeline is safe from party posts that could act as triggers and endanger your recovery.

Take Your Stand

You are in recovery. Now is the time to stand tall and be proud. Do not be afraid to talk about your achievements on social media. Share your victories and let everyone know what you have accomplished as a result. For instance, consider placing a banner on your profile that attests to your status as a person in recovery. This will help discourage friends and casual acquaintances from unknowingly sabotaging your progress. Let everyone know that drinking and social media no longer pair well in your life.

Inspire Others

Negativity is not your friend when you are in recovery from drug or alcohol use disorder. Keep your posts positive and uplifting, more for your own sake, but also to inspire others. It is unnecessary to adopt a Mary Poppins role on your timeline, but it is good to stay positive. Positivity is a powerful tool in the prevention of relapse and the success of recovery. At The Right Step, we want you to post and share those things that make you happy to be renewed. In this way, drinking and social media will hold no power over you.

Avoid Posts That Glorify Drinking

Even after vetting your friend’s list and alerting others to your new life in recovery, occasionally, someone will share a post that glorifies drinking and social media. That is okay. It is already there, and you are looking at it. See it and move on. It holds no power over you now that you’re in recovery.

Maybe it makes you miss the old days. Maybe it looks good enough to climb through the screen and drink. Feel those emotions and recognize them for what they are — feelings. You are not required to act upon them, and you should not judge yourself harshly for having them. Sign off your page and go be around your people, your new people, perhaps from your men’s addiction treatment center or women’s addiction treatment center. Find strength and unity there, and you will be surprised at how easy it becomes to break the connection between drinking and social media in your life.