Social Media Fatigue
Social media can be a wonderful tool to bring us together with friends, keep us up to date on current events and help us stay on top of our interests. Unfortunately, like many good things, it can also become too much sometimes. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by politics, news of Covid-19, civil unrest and other events happening in the world.
In addition, not everyone in your social media feeds is uplifting. Chances are, some of your friends and followers are difficult, showy, toxic and exhausting. Sorting through the noise each day may no longer be rewarding. It can also be a time suck that takes up too much of your life. So what do you do? Should you take a break? Leave it all behind? Maybe.
Sometimes walking away for a bit or deactivating your accounts can be the solution. There are other ways to take control of your profiles without tossing it all out the window, though. Which method is right for you will depend upon individual factors. Consider these solutions to overcome social media fatigue.
Assess Your Motivation
The first step to determining how to best manage your social media usage is to determine why you’re there in the first place. Why are you active on each platform? What do you hope to get from the activity? Who do you interact with most? When you understand what you want from social media, you can then determine whether you are currently meeting those desires and take action based on that assessment.
Curate Your Feeds
Next, you’ll want to consider your current social media feeds. Take a look at your friends’ lists. Scroll through your feeds. Pay attention to your feelings as you do so. Notice your reactions each time you receive a comment. Do this for a few days and take notes. If you determine that certain individuals cause negative emotions to arise, examine those feelings. Then take action. Snooze, unfollow or unfriend that person based on your assessment. Keep only the connections that bring a smile to your face, inspire you or contribute to your growth.
Set a Schedule
Are you content with the amount of time you spend using social media? Do you pick up your phone every time you get a notification? Are you checking in throughout the day? If you feel tied to your accounts, it might benefit you to implement a set schedule for social media use. Check your accounts in the morning and at night or allow yourself a break between work tasks. There are apps that can block certain sites or limit the amount of time you can spend there, as well.
Take a Break
Finally, after assessing your social media use and making changes, you may decide that taking a break might do you good. That’s okay. Taking control of your time in this way can be liberating. Removing digital distractions from your life might give you great peace of mind and allow you to use your time more intentionally. You could always go back if you decide you’re missing the interaction.
The main takeaway here is that you are in charge of your social media. You can take proactive measures to create the experience you desire. Making some adjustments might help you to enjoy the time you spend online more or it could be in your best interests to remove social media altogether. Only you can decide what’s best for you.