One of the things I’ve been noticing a lot over the past couple weeks is the number of people who have set “resolutions” (or as I prefer to call them, “intentions”) to reduce or eliminate their time on social media this year. (Ironically, they’re announcing this on social media… but where else does one make such announcements these days?!)
I think this is a wonderful intention to set. Social media is a “noisy” place, and as someone who is slowly losing her hearing thanks to 10+ years of call centre work, I’m beginning to appreciate “quiet” places.
Social media is also rife with problems that it created itself:
- Misinformation and disinformation abounds
- People fall into the “comparison game” trap, even becoming depressed as a result
- Marketers push out content for content’s sake, not because they have anything meaningful to share or say
That’s not to say social media is a complete waste of time. I do believe it still has value. But I also believe in using it responsibly. That’s a story for another day.
For now, for those of you who want to reduce/eliminate their social media usage this year, I want to share with you some things that I’ve done and have worked for me.
At the start of 2018, I set a similar intention to change how (and how often) I use social media, both personally and professionally. Tall order for someone who, for quite some time, billed herself as a social media strategist. That aside, it changed my life. I believe it had a significant hand in reducing my anxiety, among other things.
Even if you run an online business (like I do), you can reduce your social media usage without it impacting your income. My revenue in 2018 increased 46.1% over 2017, and that’s not because I raised my prices (I didn’t). It’s in no small part due to the fact I did not waste nearly as much time on unfocused social media usage, and instead focused on actually nurturing my relationships with clients, potential clients, and allies alike. I’m not telling you this to brag; I’m telling you this to show you that your biz is not gonna fall apart.
So, here’s what I did. You can do some or all of it. Either way, you’ll notice a difference. 🙂
1. Quit entire platforms.
Search “quit” on Unsplash.com and this image is the first result. No joke.
I think people should do this anyway, regardless of whether they’re planning to reduce their social media usage or not. For the simple reason that it’s better to be a rockstar on one platform (okay, maybe 2) than it is to suck on several.
It’s also exhausting trying to come up with content that’s optimized for every single platform — especially if you’re trying to do it all yourself — which then results in regurgitated content. ‘Regurgitated’ is such a gross word. Kind of like SPAM. Which — look at that — in relation to social media content, THEY’RE THE EXACT SAME THING.
So, pick one or two platforms that you actually enjoy using. Quit the rest.
2a. Set boundaries around what you use those platforms for.
I ultimately settled on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook I use primarily for business — mostly networking and fostering relationships. I don’t post a lot of stuff on Facebook anymore. I’m more interested in having conversations, so I comment on other people’s stuff. I only post when I have something meaningful to share.
Boundaries. Set them. Love them. Maintain them.
Instagram, on the other hand, is primarily for personal stuff. This is where I post pictures of my knitting, my traveling, and what I cooked for dinner. I rarely talk business over there. Sometimes I crosspost to my Facebook, but not often. I’ve become a big believer of “separation of church (work) and state (private life)” on social media. LOL
2b. Set boundaries around when you use those platforms.
Since I primarily use Facebook for business, I’m generally only on Facebook during business hours. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon. And only for about 15-20 minutes at a time. I have this great little egg timer that my friend Pat gave me. When it goes off, I log off.
I also set a specific intention for what I’m going to spend that time doing, each time. Maybe it’s interacting in a certain Facebook group. Maybe it’s checking my clients’ profiles to see if there’s anything I want to comment on. Maybe it’s cat videos. (Hey, 80/20 rule! LOL)
For Instagram, I’m usually there after work hours, because it’s fun for me.
3. Remove mobile apps from your phone.
Okay, so you can’t really do that if something like Instagram or Snapchat is your platform of choice. LOL
But for pretty much all the others, you can remove them from your mobile device and your life will not be impacted. The world will not end. I promise.
4. If that’s not possible, turn off push notifications.
OMG I think push notifications are the scourge of the earth. The only thing I have push notifications turned on for are text messages. Seriously.
Anything else, I have to physically (intentionally) open the app to check for new notifications or messages. I’m talking Facebook, Instagram, email (and that’s personal email… I don’t have business emails pushed to my phone at all.) GAME CHANGER, I promise.
5. Clean up your feed.
If there are people in your feed that trigger you in some way, unfriend them.
Now, I know it’s not as simple as that in some cases.
For those people who you can’t unfriend on Facebook for “political” reasons — ie. someone’s feelings will get hurt and you don’t want to deal with their ish — you can unfollow them, and they’ll never even know.
Facebook also has this nifty “snooze for 30 days” feature that I’m a big fan of. Tap/click on an annoying post and that menu option will come up. Great for people who have only recently become annoying and you think they’ll be over whatever thing they won’t stop going on about in a month or so. Like those pesky resolutioners. LOL
I hope you find some or all of these suggestions useful! Like I said, implementing these over the course of 2018 only benefited me.
Will you be changing the way you use social media this year? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Leave me a comment below.
