Do you ever just make a last minute decision because you’re so tired of going back and forth on it, and you just want to move on? I did the same thing with social media lately. I have so many thoughts and feelings about social media - good and bad - and one day I randomly decided to just take a little 30 day break from it, and when I saw my 1 month break would be up on my birthday....I took that as a birthday gift sign.ツ I still use my facebook for marketplace (your girl is always finding things to sell) and checking birthdays (I spend a silly amount of time worrying that I will miss people’s birthdays), and when I’m doing those things sometimes I’ll peek at the top post on my feed, a few stories, or a message someone sent me (like the 2 my mom or friends sent me hahah), but that’s about it.
I’m still not sure how I feel about social media, so I want to write out my thoughts about it. Writing is such a good way to help you reflect and come to conclusions that you may not have been able to realize before - you can find my other blog post where I talk about that here - blogging is more than just sharing tips.
Here’s what surprised me
I missed it! I knew I would miss it in the sense that I’m addicted to always pulling it up on my phone - waiting in lines, work breaks, etc. - but I didn’t realize I would miss knowing what some of my fav people were up to. Even people that I just know from high school. I feel honored that I get to watch their families grow, and I love seeing people’s love shine through on the pictures they take and the captions they write. During this 30 day break, when I would hop on to grab a recipe from my saved posts for dinner, I would see the latest post that was usually something that would always make my heart smile - like a baby being born. I just find it such a treasure that we get to share our lives online and others allow us to peek in and pray for them, smile with them, cry with them, and laugh with them. I missed that. And I missed sharing fun things in my life - like the new puppy we brought home. I’m legit dying to share photos of her, lol.
Here’s what I loved about my break -
Time felt a little bit more slow. Maybe it’s all in my head because I had just listened to this podcast about social media causing time to feel like it’s going faster. The guest was talking about us taking in so much information (like a newspapers worth in 1980 and today it's comparable to hundreds of newspapers), and that our brains don’t get time to process information, so it creates this phenomenon of us feeling like time is passing by faster and faster. This makes so much sense to me. Whenever I get bored, it’s pretty common for me to turn to my phone. And I have also been finding myself multitasking to the max lately. I’m realizing that I’m always either reading my phone, or listening to a podcast, or working, or doing 2 of those thing at once, lol. It’s all coming from good intentions that I have - I am always wanting to improve myself as a person, a mom, a wife, an entrepreneur (one day I’ll learn how to spell that the first try). But I think I’m inadvertently consuming so much and not allowing myself time to think, reflect, and maybe even implement what I’m learning about. My brain isn't getting any down time. That was actually my biggest pet peeve when I was teaching (like when we would go to an all day conference and then you’re just supposed to all the sudden implement everything you learned the next day at work when the kids show up at 8:20), and now I’m doing the exact same thing to myself. Whooopsies.
When I took this little break from social media, I found myself multitasking a little bit less. I might still like to listen to podcasts while I make dinner. But I wasn’t watching tv and also scrolling on my phone - I was truly just watching a 1 hour show and I don’t think I have done that in a long time. When I was waiting for something for 10 minutes, I was just sitting there waiting and alone with my thoughts. I felt myself feeling a little bit less frantic. I’m so used to fitting so much in a day and even when I’m relaxing, I have my phone on stand-by, and I see how that’s causing me to feel like life is moving so dang fast. But when every second of free time wasn’t always filled up by something else, the days felt like I could breathe a little bit more. I sometimes even found myself thinking, hmm, I have 30 minutes after work to sit here before I make dinner. I could read, or play with Luke, or sit outside, what would I like to do? It’s weird how before I would feel like those 30 minutes were pointless because they would fly by, but my perspective seemed to be shifting a little bit when my brain didn't have the option to grab my phone.
SO NOW WHAT?
I’m going to break this up into personal and professional chunks because I use social media for personal reasons and also for professional reasons.
Personally:
I don’t want to be off social media completely. I don’t know if that’ll change, but right now, I feel that I just want to lessen my time there for a couple reasons.
1 - I kinda like the idea of rewarding myself with social media time if I have a week of doing the things that I previously committed to doing. For example, I am currently trying to do 3 work outs a week and on the days I don’t work out, I want to make sure I hit my step goal. I need some bribery to keep me motivated (anyone else?), and I have not been able to find a way to reward myself that feels good and is not unhealthy. But this feels fun and something that could be a great option. If I stick to my movement goals for the week, I might give myself 1 day a week to scroll on social media.
2 - I tried to pay attention to my mental state because I know there are a lot of studies on the affect of self-worth, anxiety, and other things that social media can have on us. I mentioned that I noticed my feeling of time slowing down, which I could see related to bringing down anxiousness. On the other hand, I also noticed my mental state feeling happy when I would jump on there and see posts that made me smile, or laugh. With all that being said, I’m not currently noticing a huge significant negative impct on my mental state, but I do see it having some negative impacts and I think minimizing my time on there to maybe once a week will help maintain a healthy relationship, and I want to keep reevaluating that as I go. And while I'm not noticing huge negatives, I am really loving giving my brain downtime without a phone, and focusing on making time for other hobbies and long-form content. This may also be something that changes as I spend more time off of social media too.
Professionally -
I’ve been so unsure of how to use social media as I learn how to grow and have an online presence. This could be a whole other blog post in itself, but the summary is that I have a much-love and little-hate relationship with it, lol. I love the connections with people. I love the entertainment. And I truly gain so much wisdom from others on there. It often inspires me to want to be on there enriching others lives too. But at the same time, I see how easy it is to compare, I easily spend 2 hours on it without even realizing that it’s past my bedtime, and I struggle big time putting up work boundaries when I try to post something I made, but also use it for fun and scroll for 30 minutes before realizing what I was supposed to be doing in the first place.
I’ve come to see that it’s a tool and our work is to steward it well. And stewarding it well has come with a lot of mindmess for me too. If someone posted relatable videos at my 9-5 job all day long, I literally would get nothing done. ツAnd after listening to Podcasts from Writing Off Social, I am fully understanding how social media works to keep you on there as long as possible and is not a neutral thing. It is something that we need to be diligent with. But with anythign in life, God uses it for good. And that part tugs at me too.
I’ve tried so many things too. I’ve tried doing all my “work tasks” first and then the remaining time can be for scrolling. I’ve tried using certain days for work days and others as fun days. I’ve also covered up my feed when I go to post so I’m not tempted to scroll. I don’t know if it’s me, the spiritual enemy at work, or both, but my willpower is low when it comes to my feed! I truly so enjoy reading/watching videos that make me laugh, provide me with tips, or change the direction of my life in the best way. I feel like I’ve been stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel some responsibility to share to enrich those that are following me on there. Am I not being faithful if I don’t enrich those that He has placed in my path already? Am I letting Him down? I don’t know. Can we let God down? I have questions.
Im still torn. I’m currently tracking my time each week to see how much time I spend on different tasks and get more realistic expectations of what I can or can’t do with the limited time that I have for having an online pressence. I’m also trying to get better about actually producing things each time I sit down to work on a task as I’ve noticed I have a habit of thinking about things (and even starting them), but not finishing them. And my brains like, hey Brittany, you’ve spent so much time thinking about this, so you’ve spent a lot of time on it, but in reality, I haven’t actually spent much time doing the things. Thinking about things and doing things are different I suppose lol.
I think I still have a lot of mindmess to keep working through when it comes to growing my online presence on social media (and just in general), but that's what grows us, right? An inheritance gained hastily will not be blessed in the end (Proverbs 20:21). I think one of the reasons I don’t have a huge desire to share over there is because I like to write A LOT (as I’m on page 3 of this blog in my Google Dos HAHA) and I understand I can break it up into chunks for social media, but I STILL always have much I want to write. I’m sure this is a skill that I can get better at, but that’s going to take time and practice, and I have other priorities I’m working on right now.
I also am finding myself gravitating more and more towards long-form content. And remember how I was just sharing about how this 30 day break was helping me see that social media is causing me to feel a bit more frantic? I don’t think I want to contribute to a platform if I know it’s causing that for others, you know? I DO want others that already follow me on social media to be aware of what I’m creating that may be of value for them, but I think that may come in the form of sharing here and there right now. I do love sharing things I love and I hope to find ways to do that more while also keeping it fun for me. But, I think my focus is going to be on blogging through my website, creating youtube videos (especially to help grow that relationship/trust factor), emails, and I’m also taking a shot at Pinterest right now (thinking of giving that a year or so to see where it goes). Social media is such a wonderful way to connect with others and promote the things I'm sharing, so I'm continually looking for ways to keep doing that. I do have a tendency to overachieve, and I know a character growth area that I need to work on CONSTANTLY is not putting my worth in the things I do and having faith that God’s word is true, sowing and reaping is in effect, and trusting that He isn’t a liar, lol. I want to keep posting the things I love, and maybe even the things I’m currently reflecting on, but I don’t see it as my main way to grow right now, regardless of how not smart that is. I want people to know I’m still alive and well, blogging away, finding joy in the days where I can, and also that I’m not bound to the gram each day.
I'm so curious on what your thoughts are about social media personally, profesionally, or both? What stood out to you?
Much love + I'm rooting for you,
Brittany ♡
P.S. Want to be closer friends? I'll tell you my airhead moments and encourage you! Here's what you can expect in your inbox:
I typically send an email out on Sunday with a laugh, and links to what I created for the week to bring more joy to those working, momming, and/or homeschooling. I would love to connect in your inbox and I probably need your advice along the way too! Sign up here!
コメント