Social Media can be a rollercoaster of emotions, primarily if not used correctly. It can be a form of anxiety, making people feel lonely, toxic, and more, and yet when you follow these simple rules that I am about to share, it can become a tremendous and powerful resource for you. I believe that whenever something starts to be of no value to you, you either need to walk away from it or an opportunity to make some changes.
In this case, you can either walk away from social media altogether, reduce the amount of time you spend there, or make some changes. What I am trying to say is that there are several options.
Assess the kind of content you follow
There are several types of content that people share
- Entertaining Content
- Informative Content
- Engaging Content
- Empowering Content
- Exciting Content
- Educational Content
Find out what kind of content speaks to you more, and search for individuals who make the best of that content and those who share things that resonate more with you and add value to you than taking it away. Programing or setting your social media to be something that you feel good about whenever you are on there requires you to assess the kind of content and people that you follow. How does your feed look? Take a step back and ask yourself, how does it make you feel? Is it something that brings you joy, excites you, is informative in a way? How do you feel after you close out of any media app? Assess that and make changes, discover the content that speaks to you the most, and follow individuals who share that space in ways that don’t trigger you.
Reduce the amount of time you spend on social media.
In James Clear’s book Atomic habits, he talks about making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Social Media is something set by default into our time and schedule. It’s so convenient for us to access it at any given moment and time. And with things such as this, one needs to be strategic on ways to spend less time on there. It would be best if you had more actionable ways to spend less time on social media than relying solely on self-control or willpower or simply just saying “I won’t open these apps today.” Uninstall it from your device, out of sight, out of mind, make it hard to be accessible. You can go further by deactivating your account temporarily. They usually give you 30 days until they deactivate it permanently. Getting off the grid is a thing and one that creates a certain peace of mind once adaptable. And while you’re at it, you can find other ways to occupy that time. Read a book, catch up with friends in real-time, watch a documentary, do that thing that you have been putting off. It helps you in a way to figure out that there is more to life and also helps to have better control of the default. Whenever you feel like you are losing focus on something, you have to step back and regroup, find your ground again, and get back. Taking a break and time away is a good thing. Learn to be able to live with social media and also, without it.
Unfollow anyone and anything toxic
Following the right accounts that speak to your cause and what most resonates with you should be accompanied by cleaning up your following. Look through the list of the individuals and accounts that you follow and do a thorough cleanup. Unfollow people and accounts that don’t build you up anymore, or add anything to your ways of living. Be intentional about it and set boundaries. Remember we are making this work for us and not against us
In conclusion, social media should not be something that stresses you. Evolve with it by making a few changes that would improve the relationship you have with it. It’s how you choose to use it that defines the kind of experience you will get from it. Let it be a good one. It can be an incredible tool for those that share and those that receive content from it.
Let’s do this again soon. Thanks for reading!
