I’ve taken a new approach to social media: less of it.

That’s not a novel concept at all. A lot of people intentionally dial it back. I gave it up for Lent this year, which coincidentally lined up nicely with the beginning of the pandemic. It probably did me (and my family cooped up in the house with me) a lot of good.

Again, I’m starting to dial it back again. It’s not a virtue signaling thing on my part. I don’t think it’s the root of all evil. I’m a digital marketer and built a career on online engagement.

Productivity Concerns

Social media is a huge time suck. That’s honestly the biggest reason. Our family is currently in a season where our kids have returned to daycare, albeit on abbreviated hours. I have more time to work than I did in March, April and May but it’s still a finite amount of time. Making the most of our kid-free hours is important. I don’t want to waste it getting sucked into a Twitter rabbit hole or scrolling Facebook mindlessly getting irrationally angry at family and friends. That’s not productive.

So I’m trying to limit my time just to be able to get more done. Both with work tasks and home tasks. One of the perks of WFH is taking short computer breaks to mow the lawn, do a load of laundry or wipe down the kitchen counters. Scrolling my phone takes time away from non-work productivity as well as the stuff I get paid to do.

Mental Health

There is research that social doesn’t do a lot of great things to mental health. Twitter is my time wasting drug of choice most of the time but it doesn’t help me inspire confidence in the world at the moment. I know that just giving my mind space to think for itself and not get cluttered up by everyone else’s opinion is probably a good thing.

I never really had a recognizable feeling of being more upset or my mood changing one way or the other based on my screen time. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. My lizard brain time spent mindlessly scrolling probably affected my mood and emotions way more than I could recognize.

When we have a lack of physical connection like we do now, it’s easy to want to fill that gap with digital alternatives. I think a little blank space in our lives is just as healthy. It’s just really hard and uncomfortable to actually do.

How I’m Approaching It

I’m trying to take a similar approach to social as I do with the news - less is more. Spend less time consuming it and being more intentional with how I use it.

I’m trying to engage more and post less. Not get in comments or debate fights. Just comment on someone’s post in a positive way. Use DMs to talk to friends and keep up with them. Actually use social media to…be social.

Reducing my mobile screen time is a huge part of the effort. Up until this week, I was physically removing Instagram and Twitter from my phone during the week and only reinstalling on Saturdays and Sundays.

That was a waste of time.

I’ve now taken the approach of putting a cumulative 30 minute time cap using the iOS screen time tools for both Instagram and Twitter during the week. It allows me to still engage a bit on mobile but really have to budget my time. I can’t just mindlessly use it if I put limits on it.

I keep the Facebook mobile app totally off my phone. If I’m on it, it’s via desktop. I basically only use it now for Messenger, my kids’ daycare’s Facebook group for parents and driving traffic to this blog.

I think social has a lot of dangers but can be demonized a bit too much as well. If we are using it to do the following things, I think it is a great place to spend time…in moderation.

1. Reach out and connect with family and friends; this most effectively takes place in private messages and non-combative post comments

2. Don’t worry about how many likes/comments a post gets (turning off notifications for a while kills that impulse a bit)

3. DO NOT USE SOCIAL AS YOUR PRIMARY SOURCE OF NEWS. Subscribe to your local paper. Pay for news and read stories straight from the source - not the way some pundit or old friend from high school presents the news to you. A person can spend less than $20/month and be better informed than mindlessly scrolling meme interpretations of current events.

The consumption of anything - caffeine, alcohol, news, TV…and social media isn’t inherently evil. They all are best served in moderation. I’m not perfect but striving to have more moderate digital content consumption habits moving forward.

What about you? How has COVID shaped your own online behavior?