Social media provides numerous benefits. Yet, one of the challenges of using it is that we can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of available material – it’s impossible to even scan it all, and it might not be a good idea to even try.

For purposes of this discussion, I will include blogs and email newsletters to which you subscribe, as well as the social media sites you frequent, and I will group all of these under the term “social media.”

Having access to all this information reminds me of being at an enormous buffet. Just as with the buffet, where there is food that you truly love and food you don’t like at all, there is content out there that appeals to you and content you don’t care for. And chances are – there are quite a lot of both.

It’s easy to skip the stuff you don’t like, yet it is also easy to overeat at a buffet. Everything looks so good, and there is so much variety. But even a small portion of all the things you like can be bad for your physical health.

Similarly, overdoing with cyber-information is easy, and doing so is not great for your mental health. It probably doesn’t do much for your social health either.

My personal rule of thumb is that the content I take needs to inform, entertain, and/or inspire me. If what you are consuming on social media is NOT doing at least one of those things, most likely it’s time to eliminate it from your regular internet consumption.

Here are some more additional guidelines:

 Seven Tips for Controlling Your Social Media Consumption

• Determine how much time you want to devote to the use of social media each day. When tempted to log on more than that, think consciously about how else you could use that time.
• Regularly review the blogs and email newsletters you subscribe to. Determine which ones provide the most value. Don’t feel badly about unsubscribing, even if something is published by a friend.
• Similarly, when someone asks if you want to subscribe to their blog or newsletter, it’s OK to tell them that you are at your limit and simply don’t have the “bandwidth” to add any more. You’re being honest and you sound very tech-savvy when you say it that way.
• Close down accounts for social media sites that you rarely frequent. For example, if you only check your Twitter newsfeed very occasionally, maybe you don’t even need to be on Twitter.
• For those sites you do use regularly, stop following the folks whose posts don’t inform, entertain, and/or inspire you. (On some sites this happens automatically when you don’t respond to posts. On others you can unfollow or unfriend – and no, they don’t get a notification that you have done so.)
• If someone follows you on any site, you are not obliged to follow them back.
  • A nice thing about Pinterest is that you can follow only one or two boards on a person’s account and not their entire account, so you only get the stuff you are really interested in seeing.
• Periodically review the groups you belong to on social sites. If the group is no longer relevant, leave the group. You are not obligated to stay in a group that no longer serves you.

Just this week I came across two very powerful videos that address the overuse of social media. Each is only a few minutes long, and both are well worth your time.

 

Two Powerful Videos that Address the Overuse of Social Media

“Why I Refuse to Let Technology Control Me” by Prince Ea https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152753344339769&fref=nf

“Look Up” by Gary Turk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY&feature=share

 

 How About You?

Are you gorging on social media? How is that working for you? What ways have you found to reduce your use of social media sites, blogs, and/or email newsletters?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, nonprofit organizations, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com