The Burden of Social Media

Hello dear friends, I know it has been a while. Have you missed me? Finding time to sit still and write often gets away from me during the summer months. Don’t worry, I always find my way back!  It definitely feels good to finally get some words on the page.

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In the past year, I discovered and slowly started implementing “minimalism” into various aspects throughout my life. Though, my main focus has been cutting down on physical clutter. For me, a clean home equals a clean mind.

Keep in mind that this movement is extremely individualized, but essentially it means to consciously remove/minimize the burden felt in various or all areas of one’s life. What is minimalist to me, may be way too radical or conservative to you.

While I do still have a few random knick knacks around the house, I have let go of a lot of unnecessary items that were bringing about more trouble than peace. As a result, I am not as consumed with attempting to store or think about those items. Cleaning also takes a lot less out of me, as there are fewer spots of clutter and dust building up around me. I am proud to say that I have pretty much achieved my original goal, and my mental health thanks me for it!

With that being said; Over the past few months, I have noticed myself mindlessly tapping through stories or scrolling through posts on social media. These days my preferences are geared toward Instagram and Facebook. Sorry Snapchat, Insta’s won me over!

Now, please do not misunderstand my quandary.  I love social media outlets. I believe they can be positive on both the receiving and giving ends. However, I often find that the temptation to look at everything becomes so overwhelming.  In addition, even if I do find content worth viewing it is usually in between a bunch of other irrelevant content that does not interest me. The robotic motion of pushing past media that I could care less about is absolutely mind numbing.  Where does it end?

After realizing just how much this was effecting me, I decided to challenge myself with applying minimalism towards my social media activities. Specifically I wanted to evaluate the quality of the media I have been consuming. After all, what goes in… also comes out. 

Where to begin?

First, I deleted or muted various “friends” on Facebook. I also went through some of the pages that I was “following”.  These tasks were fairly simple as I am pretty good at regularly evaluating who I accept and what is often being posted.

Plus, majority of the pages I was following were posting content that did not line up with why I originally “liked” them. Simple enough.

Next, I started unfollowing pages on Instagram that I find myself clicking past more often than not anyway. This, I have to admit, was way harder than I imagined it would be. As I mentioned earlier, I realized that I had been following so many accounts that have some really great content, that was unfortunately mixed between a bunch media that is not appealing to me. I found it really hard to let go of these accounts, solely because they occasionally posted some spectacular content.

I also found that I enjoyed following some accounts for the images they post on their feed, but really hated going through their stories. After I realized I could “mute” stories, my life got so much easier!

How has life been different?

1. I have so much extra time.

Seriously! I am not sure what to do with all of it! I know people say this all the time, but I really did not realize how much it adds up, once the nonsense was weeded out. I had been spending so many precious minutes/hours tapping past media that I was not actually pay attention to. What a waste of valuable time!

   2. I enjoy the content I view, without the anxiety.

Not sure if this is something you struggle with but, I have a really hard time leaving things like Instagram stories un-viewed. Honestly, that colorful glowing ring around each new story gives me straight up anxiety. Before weeding out or muting accounts I was just clicking through them so that it would go away, not because I actually wanted to see what was being posted. To make matters worse, rapidly clicking through the unwanted content only aroused more irritation. I was in a constant losing battle. Now I can jump on for a minute and not worry about it. I still have some more weeding out to do but, at least now I can look at the list of stories or posts and actually enjoy most of what I am watching or reading.

  3. Positive content leads to more Positivity.

Finally, not only did I weed out content that I was not necessarily interested in, I also weeded out any negativity or subjects that did not necessarily have a positive impact on me. For example, I hate discussing politics. I don’t mind a post here or there, but once I feel like you’re trying to beat your opinion into my head for the millionth time… I shut off. I get annoyed having to constantly skip through 30 tabs preaching out a political agenda.  Celebrities have become notorious in this department. I appreciate the fact that they are free to fill their space however they choose. However, I realized that following various individuals who I otherwise found interesting, was not worth the negative impact this topic had on my emotional well being. After I realized this and replaced these with more positivity, my frame of mind immediately became so much more clear and positive.

Positive vibes are a real thing my friend! Find what gives you life, and weed out the rest! It really is like taking a breath of fresh air.

Ash.