Social Media is a great tool and when used properly. It can take any business or brand to the next level. Businesses can now communicate more personally with their customers and find out what they really want in just a few minutes and sometimes seconds. Celebrities and influencers can now interact with their fans or followers more personally.
The concern is how much is too much. Is there a limit to how much time we should be spending on social media and can people actually have withdrawals from social media?
Instagram has close to half a billion users. The majority of the users being women, but closely followed by men. This is the second most used app by teens. While Facebook still holds first place as the most used app, Instagram follows close behind. Facebook currently has 2.5 billion users. The majority of the users being in India. Twitter is the least used app.
Facebook users between the ages of 18-49 use Facebook with people in their 50s following with a close second. Daily usage for Facebook is 74% and 63% for Instagram. This is a pretty high percentage when you take into account that people have jobs, children, families, school, and other obligations that occupy their time throughout the day.
This means that while doing their daily duties, people are utilizing these apps. With these kind of statistics, it is safe to say that taking a break from social media is never a bad idea. A lot of people wake up every morning and immediately check their social media. It has become second nature and we all know how quickly time can fly by when we are utilizing these apps. It’s even as bad as not being able to fully enjoy a movie because we start checking our apps because our attention spans have gotten so low.
The reason that we shouldn’t over indulge in social media is because it can start to have a serious impact on our physical and mental health. We’re like drug addicts who need our daily fix of social media and usually when people are too far gone, they can’t even imagine not having their phones or not being able to look at social media, or post on social media. It has gotten to a point where the phones are controlling us. Instead of sitting in silence, we immediately jump to get our phones and see what the world is doing.
When you take a break from social media, you get back to who you are. You are fully present and enjoy moments in life so much more. It’s not wrong to want to post about something great that happened to you or to post a funny video, but it shouldn’t be something we do excessively. We have to take a step back because our health depends on it.
Most people show the best moments of their life on social media, so that is not their life 24/7 and a lot of people are putting up a front on social media. The sad part is that some people actually believe them and start to feel inadequate because they feel their life does not measure up. It’s a vicious cycle that you physically have to remove yourself from.
When I took a break from social media, it helped me to establish some much needed boundaries when I returned. I no longer cared about what everyone was doing. I looked to it as a fun place for me to share videos and pictures of things that make me happy and would put a smile on other’s faces. It became what it truly was…An app. I can now go days without posting on social media or even checking it and I am completely okay with that because I don’t have FOMO (fear of missing out). I would go places and not have the pressure of posting every single aspect of what I was doing. Some places I go it, I don’t even post because it honestly doesn’t need to be posted.
Taking a break helps create a healthy relationship with social media. It helps you realize that life goes on regardless of whether someone knows what you are doing or not. Life is enjoyable without it because it was enjoyable before it was created. Social media can be a distraction and can honestly hinder you from achieving your goals if you have not established those boundaries. I feel so empowered knowing that I can walk away from it at any minute and feel completely fine. Those three months were honestly the most peaceful months and when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, I always remember that I can take a much needed break.
If you’re like me (blogger, YouTuber, photographer, or entrepreneur) social media can be a big help and free advertising for any business and in many ways it is needed to interact with viewers and followers, but you can still have a successful business or brand without it. Brands like Apple and Trader Joe’s are not utilizing every social media brand, yet have made billions of dollars in sales. Apple has a Twitter, but barely uses it and there is still a notice saying they have not tweeted any photos or videos. Trader Joe’s does not even have a twitter. Apple also does not post every day on Instagram which is opposite of what most social media strategists recommend you do.
It is not the end all be all for success. There are many companies who were around before social media and are still very successful despite. If you haven’t already, try taking a break. You will be surprised how more alert and aware you are and how amazing you feel. You are way more productive and things get done at an efficient pace. You have a better attention span and you WILL perform better in anything that you do.
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