Stop vilifying social media
5 quick hacks on Being social on social media yet have a productive day
I see a million conversations, posts and photos talking about social media being a modern evil and what not. Like this one:
It’s so untrue.
Social media is NOT the problem.
It’s our inability to discipline and limit its use that’s the problem.
If it weren’t for social media we wouldn’t be living in a global village today.
This interconnected world that has emerged is phenomenal.
Sitting in a Bhutanese village one can chat and ideate every day on what’s happening in Silicon Valley.
In a remote village of Mozambique, a child can learn from the Harvard classrooms and spend time with virtual classmates from a world over.
A whole new profession of being an “Influencer” has emerged — Not just Instagram celebrities but super insightful and intellectual ones like Stratechery too!
The list goes on…
When people crib about social media being the problem — Hear the unsaid.
They haven’t yet figured out to train their mind and impulse to limit its use.
Social media is a great cauldron of ideas. Use it well but don’t stop using it. Some tricks that help use social media productively:
- Use automation tools
Tools will help you schedule your weekly feeds. So you’re not scrambling to think what do I post today. This will free a truckload of time over the days to put to productive use.
2. Compartmentalise
Keep things real by spending 30 minutes a day genuinely engaging with people on your best channels — LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.
Set aside 30 minutes end-of-day to catch up on your friends and family on social media. It's humanly impossible to be chatting up one on one every day. Glance through the feed and make sure you talk to at least two people in real life of that feed. This will infuse a new energy in the way you use social media and balance it with the real world.
The key here is to also be strict with yourself here. Eg if I spend too much time on social media some day, I write down a list of all that I could have completed and didn’t complete into my next day’s tasks. It not only creates a feeling of urgency but keeps you in check for days together.
A friend of mine has another solution to it- Whenever he spends excessive time on social media — he denies himself a small pleasure or gives himself a hard task eg. No dessert that day or cleaning the attic etc. He claims this keeps him in tune with his goals for months.
3. Set Goals
Let's say you’re using social media for prospecting, set goals per day eg. 100 profile visits, 5 connections etc. (Hack this by using the tools. Can share list privately if anyone wants)
4. Limit the number of channels you're active on
Unless your job requires you to be active on 20 social media channels all day, choose your best 4 wisely and just stick to that.
Attempting social media omnipresence is foolhardiness.
2–4 social media channels are the optimum number to be active on. Any more than that is just cognitive overload!
5. Uninstall your most used app from your phone for a week
This might sound drastic but it works like a charm. I’ve tried this and benefitted, hence I share. Often it's not all of the social media that's the culprit but we’re addicted to a particular app like Facebook, Quora, Twitter etc. which is sucking out a chunk of our day ever so subtly.
I used to use Facebook a lot at one point in 2016. I found myself checking my phone every 20 minutes. (and nothing to do with work at that point)
It felt like an addiction and I decided to uninstall Facebook for a week. Day 1 was crazy and I still checked my phone every twenty minutes out of habit. There was nothing to check and going on the laptop felt cumbersome. By the end of the week, I realized I had an extra 1.5-2 hours to my day which I could use to read books or spend on intellectual development, playing with my twins etc. Thankfully I never relapsed thereafter.
Would love to hear how you keep your social media addiction in check and have productive days !!