Lately I have been thinking about the balance in life, not work and home life, but more social media and what we expose ourselves to while participating in that. I won’t lie, I love social media. I love posting and participating and watching all the things, but it can really drag us down if we are not careful. Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on anything pertaining to social media or the affects it has on people, but I am observant and have watched its affects on myself and others. There are a few things I have noticed about myself that might help some of you as well, especially if you have been struggling with finding that balance. None of these are particularly groundbreaking, but if you’re like me you might that just seeing that someone else struggles too will be more helpful for you!
Comparison Game
I can’t tell you how much this happens to me. I am ALWAYS comparing my feed to other feeds, my videos to other’s videos, my books, clothes and house to other’s items. This is SUCH a dangerous game to play. This is a hard one to reign in too, as you can get so caught up in what other people have or how other people appear.
So what, how do I reign this in? This one is quite simple – I put my phone down. Anytime I find myself comparing anything about myself and what I have to someone else I put my phone down immediately. This seems simple but it’s hard. You want to keep scrolling and thinking and critically examining yourself compared to others, but you just can’t. Put the phone down and pick up a book or bake something or go for a walk! Enjoy your life and don’t try to compare it to others. You have no idea if that’s who the person you are comparing to even is!
FOMO
I surely can’t be the only one that suffers from a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)? This is something that probably has the strongest hold on me with social media and something that causes me to purchase things and books I probably don’t need and will never use. I will see someone post a piece of clothing or a book and I will immediately want it, for fear that I would miss out on having that ite,
How do I combat this? This one’s a bit trickier as I am still working through ways to do that… I have a lot of self control items I have to work on with this. It is far too easy to jump on Amazon and purchase whatever I am missing out on, so to start with I deleted Amazon from my phone. I found that by removing the ease of purchasing items greatly helps for me. Another thing I do to help, is I think about what I already have. Even though I might be afraid of missing out on something, I have so many other “things” that I don’t need to add this new “thing” to the mix. This is something that I know not everyone struggles with, but for me it’s a serious catch with especially Instagram.
Loss of Time
This is one of those things that might play into your home or even work life. Do you find yourself scrolling and scrolling endlessly, no matter the app or site, only to look at the time and see that hours have passed? I will never forget the first time I looked at TikTok and I checked the clock and almost 2 hours had passed. Needless to say, I no longer have TikTok.
So how do we monitor our time and not waste it. Well, I think everyone kind of has their own way of dealing with this, but I actually use an App to help with this. What I use is a simple app called “Forest” that literally grows “trees” while you work, or read or spend time with your family. If you go on your phone to anything but this app (besides phone and text I believe) your forest stops growing and you fail. I am quite competitive and I feel bad if the forest dies, so this is VERY successful for me! If this is something that would help you I highly recommend checking it out, otherwise things like timers, or giving your phone to a family member can be just as successful for you!
Again, none of these are groundbreaking items, but they are things I struggle with when it comes to social media. It’s important for us to find that balance and not let social media take over who we are. That’s my 2 cents and I will leave it at that!
Joyfully Jacquie 