I am in a love hate relationship with social media. I am guessing most of us are. Either as users or parents of young users.
This has been more on my mind since the Surgeon General suggested warning labels on social media.
On the one hand, social media can help strengthen your impact, your influence, and your connections.
- I love how it keeps me in touch with the people I went to elementary school and summer camp with.
- I appreciate the conversations I get in with those who comment on my posts and newsletters.
- I am grateful for a way to spread a positive message.
- I like being able to be front of mind without getting in people’s faces.
I even got a shout out from Jason Stone, the millionaire mentor. I didn’t hear it and I don’t know what he said, but I do know the impact. All of a sudden, I had over 15,000 followers on Instagram.
But there is a downside to social media, though it depends on the person and the platform.
- We can lose time whether creating content, engaging with content, or doom scrolling. I suppose it is more than losing time, but more of prioritizing social media over potentially better ways to spend that time.
- We can get a false sense of reality when our impression of people’s lives is only what they decide to share.
- We can get a skewed news perspective based on what the latest algorithm chooses to show us.
- We can struggle with FOMO, which is a real risk with teenagers who see posts about events they didn’t attend or weren’t invited to.
So, how do we keep the positivity and manage the downsides? Admittedly, I am still working on this so I can’t wait to hear your ideas.
I try to think of each platform for different purposes.
Facebook is mainly for personal connections and unlike most, I post good and bad moments. I know that no one’s life is as perfect as shown on social media, but I do enjoy sharing in the celebrations. I don’t post or scroll too often.
Instagram is for spur of the moment and planned posts. It is the one platform where I mix personal and professional. I am new to this one and started out just to monitor my son. I am trying to grow here, so follow me and let me know what engages you. Give me some feedback and tell me what you would like to see.
LinkedInis my favorite platform. I will stay on when I stop creating content. It’s the one I encourage my kids to be on. It is where I engage the most and have built true relationships through the site.
I tend to put my time into creating content and engaging in conversations rather than consuming content. That helps balance my time. I also have a 3-platform rule.
So how do you balance your social media intake and output? Any advice?
Let’s try to spend less time online this Grandparent’s Day and more time with them. Nothing replaces face-to-face interactions.