During November I had to make the decision to deactivate myself on the social network, Facebook. I won’t go into the reasons behind it but needless to say I thought I’d choose the negative situation to try to find some positives.
Social Media is responsible for a lot, most of the time it is used for positive reasons, business, connecting with friends, staying in touch with loved ones and so on.
However it can also be a real time sap, I mean let’s face it how many times do you say to yourself, “oh I’ll just check Facebook then I’ll go do [insert your task here]”. Then before you know it you’re watching cat videos, posting memes or an watching elephant run through a mall.
Point is it can be a right time sap.
So here’s what I learned during the 2 weeks of not being on Facebook.
It doesn’t need checking everyday
When you woke up this morning what was the first thing you did?
Most of us wake up, reach for our phones turn off the alarm, head to the loo and then head back to the warmth of our bed to scroll through Facebook complete with our morning coffee/tea.
Commenting and liking away, blissfully unaware of the time passing us by, time that can be used for something far more productive like reading that book, starting your own podcast or what about connecting with your partner again?
Point is spending 2 weeks away from the social network taught me one thing, we’re all suffering from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Ask yourself this, what are you really missing out on? A friend eating a taco? The latest bullshit from your local area?
Does it add any value to your life knowing what your friends did the night before last?
You need a friend you can trust for your pages
Ok so one of the downsides of not being on Facebook, which I learnt quite early on, was the fact that you lose all your Facebook Pages as they become unpublished.
Any fundraisers you have also become deactivated as well, meaning you’ll need to use an alternative platform like JustGiving.
So there is a couple of options for you, get yourself a friend, create a separate account or get another employee to manage your Facebook pages on your behalf.
End of the day your business shouldn’t have to suffer if you don’t want to utilise the social network.
Mentally it destroys you
We think social media, especially Facebook, provides us with some kind of endorphin release. Yet what I found from taking those 2 weeks away from the social network just how much happier I became.
I found myself spending a bit more time on the social networks that did bring value to me. I equally found myself beginning to think of more ways with which to reach my own target markets for Boost Digital Media.
I connected more with friends and family and spent less time worrying about what other people were posting and more time focusing on self improvement and development.
So if you’re finding yourself saying “oh I wish I had more time to do [insert what you want to do here]”. Then perhaps its time you looked at what you are doing with your time and make changes.
An app I use, called Moment allows you to track your screen time as well as what you’re doing with that screen time.
With 2021 coming to an end perhaps its time to make one of your goals for 2022, to spend less time on social media and more time doing the things that you love.
Resilience is Success
Robert Haylor