Finding Balance with Social Media

Last night, I watched the movie The Social Dilemma and it sparked a topic of conversation for this blog post. I think it’s important to find balance with social media and I am going to share some tips and tricks that work for me. I’d like to note that I am still working on this myself!

You may or may not know this, but I worked in social media marketing. I am familiar with the drivers of social media marketing, advertising online, and the algorithms that can keep users hooked. The goal of social media is to keep users engaged and to make money for advertisers. Social media is “free,” but nothing is really free. Time is being spent. Precious time.

Before we dive into the tips, I want to say that I selfishly feel so blessed to have had a childhood before social media came to fruition. As someone who experiences hate messages, cyber bullying, and internet trolls throughout my twenties and my blogging journey I have acquired a thicker skin in this space. I can not imagine what preteens and teenagers are going through and how this impacts their lives and self esteem.

Social media plays a huge role in the lives of a vast age range, and it’s important to check in on ourselves and ensure we are finding balance between the feed and real life. Today, I am going to share 3 quick tips to help you spend less time on your social media and more time living in the real world.

Here are three tips that help me:

Note: I am not an expert. 

• Unfollow accounts that don’t inspire you, and block the haters. It’s your space. People are not entitled to a reaction or response from you.
• Create more than you consume, stop scrolling.
• Set timers on your phone. If you have an iPhone, you can limit screen time for each specific app.

BONUS: Creators schedule your content in advance. I use Later.com; however, there are a variety of planning websites and apps that can help you plan out your feed.

I created some graphics for you to save to your phone to remind you of these tips, and to remind you to take a step back and enjoy the real world.

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Hopefully this post helped you learn how there is more to life than the feed, and how we can find balance in social media.