Boundaries are sexy. Social Media Fatigue Isn't
Social media (at this point has) has become almost like a second skin to most people’s lives. Imagine you roll out of your bed in the morning and oops fall down into your shinier second skin laced with likes, loves, potential clients, a funny meme, important news articles, or even a work gig or too - yes, five minutes of that in the morning and you’re now ready to conquer your day. Even if it does just mean sitting in your pajamas and applying for jobs (to do from home) because COVID-19, retrenchments and 2020.
And yes - for many of us, our days and work days have now morphed into one and become a social media daze. Where we’re spending more time online: liking, sharing, commenting, posting, Live’in, webinaring and learning.
Whether it’s been for us to pass time, to satisfy our urge to maintain connections, or whether it’s been for our businesses and passions - this on-going love affair with the pixelated experience could leave you feeling drained, cranky, irritated, anxiety-ridden, and having a sudden urge to log off. Shut down. Delete everything. Declare it to the world. Rent out a cabin and live out in the woods for a bit.
Until you realize you’re still waiting for a payment from that one client who isn’t checking her emails but perhaps she’ll check her socials. So..
And as with all love situations: balance and boundaries are key to preventing what we now know as Social Media Fatigue.
Social Media Fatigue is a phenomena that has been creeping up at us for a while now. Techopedia (an online dictionary for internet stuff) describes its symptoms as an experience where social media users wish to “pull back” and interact less online. They may even start worrying about their privacy and feel pressured to maintain online social interactions, causing unnecessary doubt, stress and overwhelm for themselves.
And with 2020 being 2020.
We’ve all been forced to some degree to use online spaces a lot more. To connect. To research. To hold meetings. To find jobs. To even teach and hold space for others. And though it’s been a fascinating experience, one thing’s for sure: too much of something can be just that.
Social Media Fatigue is an experience we shouldn’t ignore. So if you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxiety-induced when online, then you could be experiencing this kind of fatigue. A sort of information overload. And though FOMO - fear of missing out can be a real sensation for some - FOMO for your self-care is probably what you’re in need of too!
However, not everyone can just eff off from the social inter-webs whenever they’d like. Trust me, I’ve tried that only to find myself craving connection to others, information and story-telling. And for those who have businesses, it may be especially tricky and even exhausting to be navigating the social media realms while also trying to maintain a personal profile. Juggling all these identities could cause a lot of stress too! And do we even need all of these profiles?!
And though it may seem like an impossible situation to navigate around, especially if we’re dependent on getting exposure for our businesses, products or services - there are ways to maintain our online presence (whether personal or business) and not get fatigued – or at least put in protocols that support us into becoming less fatigued - a.k.a Internet Burnt Out!
The number thought-process to apply here is boundaries, time-restraints and getting clear:
Set time limits: Play around with a time limit to go online, post, check messages, comment and share. Here, you can also asses the time of the day that works best for you (personally) or whether for your business. In this case, a sort of market research can be done. And dedicating just twenty-minutes for the first half of the day creates a time-framework to work around, so that you are more productive and efficient as well.
Outsource help: If you have a product or service that you need to market and sell - get someone else to help you with this one. Make your load lighter and pay someone who can help you with the social media side of your business. This will take the burden off you but also give you time to self-care and assess whether your business does actually need to be pushing sales online or whether that time and energy could be used more productively in some other area of your business.
Treat it like a tool: Remembering your reason and intention for being online will help you to navigate unnecessary detours along the way. No matter how sexy and tempting it may seem to drift off for hours online, it is still a tool to help you on whatever journey you’re on. Remembering that - will give you perspective on how much time you actually need to spend on it and how you need to use.
Keep it simple!: You don’t have to be using ALL the social media’s, its siblings, cousins and family-alike. Creating content for each of these platforms, can be exhausting af! So try to keep it simple by focusing on only one or two platforms that you’re super confident about growing on and staying there for the long-run! Or at least dedicating a significant amount of time on it. You’ll be amazed at all the features you can find on one platform and all the different ways you can play with it. This also means taking back any scattered energy you’ve been using on an array of other platforms and using it more productively on one or two spaces. This also means that you have more time to add value to your content rather than feeling stressed or pressured that you’re not creating or doing enough.
It’s 2020 – you have permission to take a whole-ass break if you need to.
Quality over quantity: As mentioned before - focus on adding value and quality to your posts instead of creating tons of them for the heck of them. Quality over quantity. Nuff’ said.
Be intentional: Ask yourself what exactly you are trying to gain from being online. Whether it’s just for connection, self-expression, sharing the shit you like or growing your following – be aware and then use your online space intentionally. Similarly, when it comes to your business or project pages – ask yourself whether they actually need their own pages or groups and whether your customers or clients are really online. In some instances, you may find that your business is growing a lot more offline and so having an active social media presence isn’t an immediate priority right now. Of course, having a social media page for your business is great advertising, but if you’re pressed for time, have a lot on your plate, then focus on what is really important to you and where you’re finding your customers or clients (whether on or offline).
Create a system: This one may require some time to get it working for you, and so whether you’re doing it for yourself or with a team - creating a posting system will help you immensely with time management, content creation plans and overall, just feeling more confident about maintaining a social media presence without the added pressure, stress or not-enough-ness.
Boundaries! Find out from yourself what you are comfortable with when it comes to social media, time management and content creation. As mentioned before, if you’d rather delegate these tasks to someone else, then do that. Either way, set boundaries between what you’re okay with doing (in terms of workload) and sharing (in terms of content) and which parts can also be delegated to other team members.
Find what feels good. Opt to focussing on what you love about being online and what you’d like to do. Whether it’s posting a quote every now or then, sharing a photo or doing Live’s. Focusing on the part of social media that you actually love - whether personal or for your business, allows for a better – emotional experience - because you’ll be operating from a space of joy. Once again, remember your boundaries and set a time-limit for yourself!
Get in the driver’s seat of your unplug. No post or photo should be that important to you that you feel like you can’t take a break when you really need to. If it’s gotten to that point, then know you’ve overstepped your personal self-care boundaries and mostly likely in need of some TLC! Rather focus your energy on taking care of yourself - besides, nothing can work if you don’t feel healthy, balanced and filled-up emotionally.
And lastly, social media can also serve as an exaggeration of what is already out there. And scrolling can become draining if we’re consuming content that could be triggering for us or if we’re consuming triggering content for long periods of time. This isn’t to say to not be aware of what’s happening in the world because we all have a responsibility to educate ourselves, but it is to say - that we also have a responsibility to take care of our mental health and well-being and to be mindful about how we are using these platforms - whether for our own personal lives or for our businesses and projects.
It’s not sexy to have bags under your eyes coz you been staring at a pixelated dream for two weeks straight. Take a moment to go sit outside (if you can) or close to a window, get in some natural lighting, fresh air! And feel the good-ol’fashioned loving - which can never really be replaced, you feel? The world is going to keep churning. And social media is going to keep expanding. But our responsibility is to try and balance our self-care with every part of our lives including our social media usage - and of course, fill up our cups to avoid the drain.