One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2019 is to be more intentional about the way I use social media. All too often I’ll find myself scrolling through endless updates from strangers, fake or exaggerated photos, and rants about topics I don’t care about that much. If I ask myself whether all of this time spent on social media is making me a happier person, the answer is absolutely no. There are so many more valuable things I could be doing with my time instead, such as picking up one of my countless creative hobbies, reading a book, listening to some music, or even playing the music.
I no longer want to waste over half an hour every morning going through all my social media apps to catch up on everything that happened on the other side of the world while I was asleep. I no longer want to refresh Facebook several times a day to see a stream of mediocre memes some of my acquaintances tagged each other in. Social media can be a great enrichment to life, but in order to be that and not this time-consuming, negativity inducing monster, it needs to be kept in check. To me, this means reducing the time I spend on social media platforms in general, and especially the ones that don’t bring value to my life. It also means only consuming content on the platforms that I actually enjoy.
Now of course, I work on social media so I need to stay present to a certain degree. However, my main focus is on YouTube and my blog, and all the other platforms are just extras. As someone who ended up in the social media business pretty much accidentally and gradually, I don’t actually have separate personal and professional accounts on any platform besides Facebook.
Something important for me to realize is that my job is to create content, not consume it. The updates I put out can be work related, the updates I read always end up in my personal life. So in order to get a grip on my social media use, I’ve decided to overhaul the passive side of all my social media accounts: the people and content I follow. For each platform, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I asked myself three questions. What is the purpose of this platform to me? What is the platform actually at this moment? And how do I get the platform to fulfill its purpose again?
The purpose of the platform
If I’m honest, I’ll have to admit I don’t care for Twitter much anymore these days. The only real value it has to me is serving as an easy way for people to reach me. Occasionally I’ll use it as a way to contact the customer service of some hard-to-reach Dutch company, but that’s it.
What the platform has become
Over the past years I’ve noticed a huge shift in attitude on Twitter, to where I now feel like it’s a place where people go to rant and vent. Maybe this is just the case with the people I followed, maybe it’s a trend across the entire platform, but it’s really not something that brings much value to my life at all. More often than not I’d exit the Twitter app feeling frustrated or angry about an issue I wasn’t even aware of before I opened the app and that has no impact on my life whatsoever. Time to let go of this stream of negativity!
How I got it to fulfill its purpose
Twitter is probably the platform where I made the most ruthless changes. I actually unfollowed everyone except the electronic dictionary of Irish language and the study association for Celtic studies that I was a board member of in 2012. Ok, when I see it written down like this it looks pretty ridiculous actually, haha! Chances are I’ll unfollow these two on Twitter soon enough too, as I have other platforms where I follow them, but for now this is a mini feed I enjoy. I’ve deleted the Twitter app off my phone, and now only open the website on a computer once a day to check on my DM’s and @’s.
The purpose of the platform
Staying connected to people I care about or am interested in, but don’t speak to on a regular basis. Getting updates about major events in their lives such as engagements and pregnancies. Being able to receive invitations to events, RSVP to events I’m interested in and stay updated on them.
What the platform has become
Some of the most active people on my Facebook feed are people that aren’t close enough to me that I care about the news stories they find important, or the memes they tag their partner in. I have some Facebook friends that I care enough about to want to keep this possibility of connecting with them, but they have very different political or world views from me that they regularly share and that just frustrate me. Basically there’s just a lot of stuff on my wall I don’t really want to see, but feel like I need to scroll through to get to the good stuff from the people I care about.
How I got it to fulfill its purpose
Ah, the wonderful “mute” button. It allows you to stop seeing updates from someone on your wall, but remain friends with them at the same time. Over the past few days I’ve really gone to town with my mute button, haha! A few years ago I unfriended anyone on Facebook who I don’t know or haven’t met in real life at all, and now I’ve muted all the people who aren’t that close to me. People I worked on a project with once years ago, people I vaguely remember from high school but weren’t in my actual class, friends of friends I never speak to.
Now my wall is filled with just updates from the people I’m actually interested in reading updates from, but I haven’t lost all the contacts I’ve muted. Much fewer memes to sift through, and no politics. Insert big sigh of relief. I would delete the Facebook app off my phone but apparently that’s not allowed (pretty infuriating TBH), so I’ve hidden it away in a folder full of apps I never use but can’t delete.
The purpose of the platform
Instagram is the social media platform of the moment, and the one that takes up most of my time. I use it to get updates from creators I follow and to look at beautiful, inspiring photos. I also use it to create content in the form of posts and stories, and to interact with followers through comments and messages.
What the platform has become
I feel like many people use Instagram as a means of communication and a way to build a network. When I’m at an event and meet new people there, we’ll often exchange Instagram handles as a way to stay in touch. Honestly though, I never really have stayed in touch with someone I met this way, and I don’t like using Instagram to talk to people I know. My feed is filled with posts from people I’ve met once and then never talked to again, and many of these are influencers with a style that doesn’t really fit mine and a type of photo I don’t care for that much. I also used to follow a bunch of makeup Instagrammers, but I’ve lost interest in following that genre of post altogether.
How I got it to fulfill its purpose
A complete feed overhaul was in order. I unfollowed anybody I followed for networking purposes but never talked to, I unfollowed nearly all makeup accounts, and I unfollowed people who never posted or whose style changed into something I’m not interested in. I also looked for and followed a bunch of new accounts. I’m now following accounts that have that beautiful serene nature aesthetic I really like, a bunch of vintage fashion accounts, and #ratsofinstagram for my daily dose of happy ratties. Looking at my feed is now much more fulfilling and actually leaves me feeling inspired rather than jealous or inadequate.
All my social media feeds are now much emptier, so that if I refresh them, there often just isn’t anything new to show. This means I spend much less time on each platform. Curating who I get updates from has made social media feel like an enrichment again, rather than something I must keep up with and a stream of information I’m not actually interested in. I can highly suggest doing the same to your social media platforms, if you’ve been fed up with your social media use too!
YES. One of my goals this year is to log in to Facebook WAY less than I used to. At some point, I want to get rid of it altogether. I don’t want to waste time on it when I could be doing something so much more fulfilling– like maybe calling or texting my friends instead!
Hi Lucy,
Last year I decided to delete my facebook app from my phone as well, as it happened to me that I would mindlessly spend hours scrolling through the feed but didn’t report anything of value to me, that’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. I only miss it when I’m really anxious and want something to do on my phone, but it only happens from time to time. Facebook was a really toxic platform as you said, because everyone is sharing political views or say things that I dont agree with and/or angers me. I use it on my computer but have silenced so many people, and no longer feel the need to scroll through the site.
Instagram though, I cleared all the unrealistic accounts, but still feel the obligation to follow certain people. I’ve realized that nowadays, people get bothered when you don’t give a like to their post no matter the circumstance, and it’s even a conversation that they actually have with people in real life ”this person never likes my posts, so he’s an asshole”. I feel that the initial essence of instagram is lost, as at first, I only followed artists or very few accounts that I REALLY wanted to follow, and not people that I knew in real life or such.
Those are my thoughts :)
This was an interesting read, Loepsie. I guess I am really strange in that I don’t accept or send friend requests on social media. I use it (FB, IG, YT) just keep up with news on things I like such as music, TV shows, movies and sports. It’s the fastest way to get news even if it isn’t always 100% accurate. ;-) That is the only reason I’m there because it is all so fake and carries way too much drama for me. lol YouTube I just watch videos, rarely ever comment. If I do it’s usually a “thanks for sharing” message. As far as real-life friends I figure if they are that important to me I’ll find time to see, call, or text them personally. If I don’t do that it means they aren’t important and I can live without them and knowing what they ate for breakfast. ;-)
I’ve recently become inactive on all media sites except YouTube and Pinterest! I found they were unfulfilling and sometimes upsetting. I realize I could’ve did what you have done, just unfollow and mute and customize what I’d be viewing, but since getting rid of my apps and hiding the factory installed ones, I’ve found that I actually don’t miss any of it, and my friends and I hardly communicate through social media (we prefer personal communication via calls and texts) so that wasn’t a problem. I absolutely thought I would at least miss instagram (where I was most active), but I’m surprised and very pleased to find that it was not left an empty place in my life. I feel a lot more relaxed and I’ve noticed my anxiety has not been acting up as severely! All in all, it’s been a positive experience for me and I’m glad that you have found your peace with social media as well (-:
Ahh good for you! I’m glad it works for you now :D