A Balanced Feed

• Projector and screen 
• Whiteboard and pens
• Paper plates or printed "Social Media Plate" templates
• Colouring pencils or pens
• Post-it Notes

Discussing the Eat Well plate explaining its components and the importance of balance and variety in maintaining good healthy

Draw a parallel between a balanced diet and a balanced social media feed. Display the Eat Well diagram, and explain how different types of social media content can be likened to food groups:

Fruits and Vegetables: Educational and inspirational content

Carbohydrates: Meaningful interactions and relationships

Proteins: Entertainment and hobbies

Dairy and Alternatives: Self-care and mindfulness content

Oil and Spreads: Mindless scrolling and excessive consumption

Emphasise that, just like in a diet, overconsumption or underconsumption of certain types of content, especially violent content, can have a significant impact on mental and emotional well-being.

Focus specifically on the dangers of excessive exposure to violent content on social media. Discuss how such content can negatively influence young people’s attitudes, increase anxiety, desensitise young people to violence and potentially normalise aggressive behaviour.

Ask the young people to reflect on their own social media feeds and categorise the types of content they consume into the different "food groups." Encourage them to pay particular attention to any violent or aggressive content they come across. Have them draw their own social media plate, showing the proportion of each type of content they currently consume, including any violent content.

In small groups, have learners share their social media plates and discuss any imbalances they notice, particularly focusing on the presence of violent content. Encourage them to talk about how consuming violent content makes them feel and whether they believe it contributes to an "unhealthy" feed.

As a whole group, discuss strategies for achieving a more balanced and positive social media feed. Draw a large plate with ‘healthy’ sized sections for each type of media. Give the young people sticky notes and ask them to add ideas for each section to create a class example of a balanced feed.