There’s something oddly soothing about watching a stranger on YouTube restock their fridge at 2 am. The gentle clinking of glass bottles, the symmetrical arrangement of berries in clear containers, the soft shuffle of jars turned just so. It’s not your fridge, not your home, not your chaos being tamed. Yet, it scratches an itch. In the hush of the after-hours, this process feels almost sacred—a quiet ritual of control, order, and oddly specific joy. In a world where our phones double up as calendars, mirrors, and memory vaults, digital self-care isn’t a contradiction. It’s simply how we cope. And sometimes we do it in strange ways.
“Most people don’t separate their online life from the real one—they’re in the same realm,” says Deepti Chandy, a therapist and mental health expert. “Repetitive digital actions, like cleaning your camera roll or creating multiple versions of a Spotify playlist, offer the same kind of emotional relief older generations found in colour-coding a bookshelf or physically cleaning a space,” she adds. Structure, predictability, and control are emotional comforts, and the screen is where we now seek them.
Of course, none of this is new. Author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said that “arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet on a crowded day—like writing a poem or saying a prayer”. Today, that bowl is a Pinterest board. Instead of peonies, it holds cottagecore kitchens, multi-step night routines, and affirmations that land a little too perfectly.
There’s also a growing fascination with online games as emotional comfort zones. Games like Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Cozy Grove have become go-to therapy pods—pocket worlds where gardens grow, rooms decorate, and stress dissolves.
Fahmida Naz, a Mumbai-based filmmaker and creative producer, turns to an app called Pigment to relax. “It’s like a digital colouring book where you can fill all sorts of shapes. Something about the gentle hues feels almost healing,” she says.
For Adnan Farouk, a photographer and videographer who creates digital content for celebrities like Shraddha Kapoor and Banita Sandhu, these online rituals are the emotional architecture of his work. “Curating my Instagram feed is the most calming thing I can do. The consistent colour combinations, posts, and stories flowing organically—I love seeing it all come together,” he says. For him, social media isn’t a stressor but a form of visual order. Instagram is his safe space, and he speaks of it like a modern-day sanctuary: “Back in school, I was judged for being different. But digital platforms like Tumblr and Instagram let me be seen,” he adds.
This is where the internet does its quietest work—in those micro-moments of control. Renaming a folder. Colour coding your Google Calendar. Deleting a decade of screenshots. As Chandy explains, “Life is messy, uncertain. But these small, controlled environments we create on our phones? They give us predictability. It’s therapeutic.” It’s also deeply visual. Aesthetic choices—whether it’s a minimalist app layout or your obsession with sage green—can be a form of mental hygiene.
Of course, the paradox of all this is that wellness—once about detachment—is now increasingly screen-bound. Meditation apps. Gratitude trackers. Face yoga tutorials on Instagram. Even rest has become performative. But maybe it’s not a flaw but an evolution. As Farouk puts it, “I know it’s a screen, but when I’m working on my feed, it feels like I’m organising my emotions visually.”
These small digital habits may not look like traditional self-care, but they serve a purpose. They’re emotional tools. Grounding exercises. And most importantly, they’re accessible. “It’s not always about solving a problem,” says Chandy. “Sometimes it’s about making space to feel better—even for a few minutes.”
Screens, though, can only take us so far. A colour-coded feed doesn’t replace a conversation with another human. Still, maybe healing doesn’t have to be a full reset like a yoga retreat or a three-month sabbatical. Sometimes, it can start with an act as simple as changing your wallpaper. Again.
