I get it, social media is the single best connection we have to other people right now. I am not disputing the benefits. All I’m saying is, the past year, we learned how to rethink a thing or two about our lives, and social media usage should be one of them. Let me give you couple reasons below why you should declutter your social media usage, and you can tell me your thoughts in the comments below. 👇
1. You’ll have extra free time
Accourding to Social Media Today, 30% of our time now spent on social media, which comes down to about 2,5 hours every day, which is a whole day gone from your week.
Mindblowing, right?
Imagine, that if you restrict yourself to just 30 minutes a day, you’ll have given yourself 14 hours EXTRA TIME for whatever else you wanna do. (You get that day back!) Be it some more time to read in a quiet corner, learn that instrument you dreamed of learning, have an extra bit to play that game you like so much (just be just as mindful about time spent there too!)
I’m working nowadays as a digital marketer, so I need that limit of my usage now more than ever! How about you?
2. Mental Health
Nowadays especially, mental health is definitely one that we have to consider. There is a lot of lockdowns around the world, and Ireland isn’t an exception. We have a specialised Level 5 on until at least 5th April 2021! (Oh, no!😱 )
Social media is full of news that you should not be hearing everyday and we must take measures to protect ourselves.
Too much information is proven to be causing mental fatigue, which eventually will result in mental health problems, such as depression, insomnia, underperforming in the workplace (especially if you work from home), rocketing stress levels, lethargy, and so on.
Don’t have to avoid all contact with these news, as I know it is important to keep up to date to some level.
Another solution? Revamp who and what channels you follow. Helps too!! I promise.
However, a selected ignorance is bliss, don’t you think?
3. Try your hand in something new
Since this lockdown, I’ve picked up knitting more seriously, and learned to knit English style as well as Continental style. Then I taught myself how to crochet. I’ve done an event management course, learned some basic coding and I’ve bought countless looms to experiment on, not to mention that we invested into a PS4. And I started learning piano. And I started this blog to write more. And now I’m working too.
Sounds too much? I know. 😂
You don’t have to have the same list I have (mine is, admittedly, a bit much – I don’t know how to do just one thing), but do remember that sometimes a certain amount of busy schedule is good for the soul. It carries a sense of accomplishment, a purpose, and something to look forward to.
So try one thing, I implore you. Something that you’d really, really wanted to learn and you never had the time before.
This pandemic is by far not gone yet, so you’ve got some extra time to kill in any case.
4. Be more proactive with time-management
When you’re on social media, your time runs away with you. Wouldn’t you rather be a bit more proactive instead?
I know that we’d rather just hide in our burrows, only resurface to a world that’s gone back to our previous normal. I know I wish that a lot.
To avoid sticking my head in the sand, I chose proactive ways to spend my time.
Like I wake up at a certain time and start work at a certain time. I take a break and I have one of the above mentioned activities for which I reach to or I’ll take a nap if I’m tired. Point is, I organise my time, to stay on target.
I don’t do hourly breakdowns, and I’m not keeping myself strictly to my schedule right now, as I have bad days and good days, like most. And I need to adjust as such.
I do keep a Bullet Journal though which helps me keep on track with the most important things, like work, my blog, my other commitments, and so on.
(If you haven’t hear of Bullet Journaling before, I highly recommend you check out Ryder Carroll’s method, I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can go as creative or as simple as you want. – And hey there, there is an extra potential way to a new hobby – several actually. 😉 )
5. Purpose redirection
Purpose these days is key these days especially.
It is, so you can redirect your day-to-day attention to more important things in your life, especially if we’re in-between jobs right now (check out my tips for that here). This is the same for those of you that are stay at home moms or dads, or if you just literally need to rethink your priorities for some reason or another, whatever the case may be.
I found that social media gives me anxiety, big time. This is partly because I’ve become a very private person over the years. Naturally, me sharing posts about my interests and stuff is hard for me.
Limiting my social presence was one of the best decision I’ve made.
My repurposing of my time on social is that I only use social media if I want to share my writing, if I have something fun to share or if I am making blog posts. Other than that, I’m working now, so since I have to use social media, I am not using it for my personal stuff at all. Girl gotta stop somewhere, am I right?
Let me know how you think would be the best way to repurpose your social media usage and how does it help you feeling happier?
Don’t forget to check out the video above 👆🏻 and leave your comments below. 👇🏻
Until the next time,
May we all have satisfying conversations.
Szabina