For the past 3 months, I’ve curtailed the time I spend on social media. I check Facebook and Twitter once a week. I respond to all notifications and I try to take about 30 minutes to interact with friends’ posts and tweets. I’ve cut back on blogging and reading blogs too.
I’m not bombarded with angry political rants. I don’t have to constantly hear how awesome or awful everyone else is doing all the time. I’m not pressured to post all the time and create content and get followers. In short, I’ve stopped pushing my introvert-self outside my extroverting comfort zone so much.
What I have done instead is put more energy into my author newsletter. I enjoy creating that content and I only have to do it once a month. I’m getting responses from readers, and it’s fun without the pressure cooker feeling of social media.
The overall result is that I feel more relaxed and happy, which is incredibly important to my creating stories that I love and can share with readers.
Fundamentally, I have to be true to myself. I like living my life offline. I like having private moments that are only documented in my memory. I like disconnecting from the computer and reconnecting with friends on the phone or in person. I like listening to music and reorganizing things in my room or cooking a dish I’ve never made before or taking a hike through the woods.
So though social media can make me miserable, I’ve decided that I won’t let it. It can be a useful tool when used properly. But it can be a misery maker when you feel like you have to be there all the time and the tool starts to control your life.
How do you feel about social media? Epic time suck? Excellent Promo tool? Fun? Taxing?
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