6 Tips for Preventing Social Media Burnout
Just around one year ago, I diagnosed myself with SMSD.
You’re wondering what SMSD is?
The symptoms are:
- Inability to sleep (without checking instagram one last time)
- Brain fog (caused by overdosing on cat videos)
- Lowered self-esteem (due to comparing self to others achievements)
- Chronic stress (from managing several different social media accounts at once)
There are more. All of them early warning signs on SMSD.
SOCIAL MEDIA STRESS DISORDER.
Ok, it’s not a real thing (YET!) but I’m serious about those symptoms I was having. It was no fun - I was no fun.
It wasn’t long before I realised I needed to take a break, and take a good look at how I was running my business.
Yes - social media is a necessary part of managing and promoting a business these days, and in many ways I’m really glad it is. I love that you can reach people all over the world - for free! 100 years ago (heck, 20 years ago) it would have cost serious cash to have that kind of worldwide potential reach.
But… there’s a limit to how much we can push ourselves. It’s not easy to cut through the noise, go viral, become ‘teh interwebs’ next big thing… and we shouldn’t be losing sleep trying to!
I learned a lot when I took a mini-break from social media, and I feel like I need to share these tips for preventing social media burnout - before more good people come down with SMSD…
Yeah, definitely. There are so many times when I am just STUCK on the internet! I keep saying to my husband, “I gotta go to bed.” cos its midnite and I’m still reading people’s blogs! Such a super guilty pleasure! But, yeah,…setting limits is a good thing! (I’m just not there yet!). I like how you divided up the different types of social media based on what kind of info you like. When I first started using twitter, I didn’t like it. Now, I love it because I can give and GET information quickly.
Haha SO true about the time drain that is the giant internet >_< I also agree about Twitter - the fact that you can 'consume' info quickly on it is a good antidote for that time drain at least!
This is definitely a problem. Thanks for the tips! They’re very helpful!
You’re welcome, thanks for stopping by Lisa!
I know people who are so addicted to social media and texting that they cannot go without checking for updates. I heard about a 10 year old in Korea who sleeps with her mobile device so she can check it right before she goes to bed and as soon as she gets up.
Haha I’m sure that 10 year old isn’t the only one unfortunately! I’m more than happy to take a break from it now - any excuse I can get 😉