Free time.
What's that?! These days, there's never a dull moment in my life. Every hour, every minute, and every second of the day there is always something that I should be doing for either myself, my employer or my family. Despite this reality, I've STILL managed over the years to find mindless scrolling time on social media.
The purpose for starting this challenge was to reset and refocus on maintaining the peace I constantly work to achieve. Although most people probably wouldn't admit, I periodically get overwhelmed by the constant noise online. The how-to hacks and over sharing on every day things sometimes play a big role in my FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). So in order to clear out any unnecessary negative feelings, I often take breaks from it all.
Social media can unfortunately be a necessity for small business owners or entrepreneurs. It has become instrumental for marketing and overall brand exposure. I knew taking a total break from social could potentially hurt or slow down business. So instead, I decided to still use the platforms - just not on my phone.
I'm old enough to remember the good old days where social media only existed on desktop computers. Back during a time when you could only check it when you sat down in a chair, logged in, and after so long, logged off. In 2024, we have apps right at our fingertips that allow us to be engaged in a single tap. This was the exact habit I wanted to break. Being connected effortlessly, even when I wasn't trying to
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Balancing accessibility and staying off had to be done just right. At first, it started off smooth. It wasn't until I realized that I hadn't posted to my business social media accounts for days that I began to panic. Most Instagram posts are reels and those are generally created in the app - which now can't be done. Instead, I focused on using the Facebook Business Suite that allows me to schedule posts. Great idea right? Wrong. Only if you are posting images could this platform be useful since any videos scheduled to post had to already be edited.
After a couple weeks, I sort of gave up. There was no way I would be able post much without the apps. So I focused more on just engaging with my followers. Not too long after, I noticed the effect it had on my personal life. It was around the time school was starting and all my kid's school updates were being posted on Facebook, which I didn't have access to outside of home. Later, my husband and I were finally able to go on a much needed date night. I had a new restaurant I wanted to try but couldn't remember the name. I had it as a saved post for places I wanted to visit, on Instagram.
Finally, I took a trip to the grocery store to gather some ingredients for a low carb recipe I wanted to try. I could remember most of it, but couldn't remember the step by step process since TikTok was deleted.
It was then I started realizing just how much we have to refer to social media for almost everything. Companies we follow, services we need, places we want to visit. I eventually had to break down and download the apps and delete them again. Although it's been inconvenient, I've managed to get a lot more done. My productivity has definitely increased and I actually did find more time to do the things that make me feel good. I honestly haven't felt disconnected to society, only the lack of being able to post for my business.
Although it seems impossible, there is a silver lining when it comes to social media. It's difficult to balance it in today's world, but there are so many benefits to taking control of how much we expose ourselves to daily. We just have to master how to utilize it for a single purpose, and find the strength to actually disconnect sometimes.