Social Media is draining: How to preserve your energy and keep engaged online.

Copy of The ugly truth about self love

Do you sometimes feel drained by social media? You experience days where being online felt more like an obligation than fun. However, it feels impossible to escape due to your personal and career goals. 

We all know the importance of online branding and posting content frequently to engage with other like-minded people. There’s a whole industry dedicated to helping people improve their online presence and becoming a successful brand. We are told that by constantly posting and interacting with others we can grow our brands and create a lasting impact on those who support us. However, this dependency on social media and this desire to be constantly visible can have negative impacts on our own well-being. Navigating in such a fast pace environment where it never switches off can be detrimental to our own inner peace.

If you’re someone like me who’s hyper-sensitive to other peoples energy, being online can sometimes be draining. I find this is especially the case with my social media accounts like Instagram and Facebook. To be honest, I’ve never experienced this with my blog and I think this is because I don’t feel the same pressures to be constantly visible like I do on other sites. Over the past year, I’ve actively surrounded myself with people who talk about well-being and self-care to help me on my own journey. However, I’ve found that so many of us offer a lot of advice to others but don’t talk much about our own self-care practices.  Or at least I find that there’s a lack of transparency when it comes to talking about how we cultivate the time to practice these things we talk about. It leads me to ask the question- If we are constantly posting and offering other people advice on how to practice self-care then when do we really get the time to practice these things ourselves?  

Recently I’ve made a commitment to use social media in a way that is better suited to my own personal needs. I love connecting with others and I want to maximize the benefits of social media. However, I want to be able to switch off without feeling guilty. I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out and I don’t want to feel drained.  I’ve been practicing a few things over the past few months and they seem to be working well so far. For anyone who finds themselves in this dilemma, this list should be helpful to you. 

5 things you can do to not feel drained by social media:

1. Take breaks- Plan a day every month where you go completely social media free. If your brand/business is reliant on you constantly posting, then plan your posts in advance and set a timer to post them on that specific day. That way all of your work is done for you and you can enjoy your social media free day without feeling guilty. More importantly, taking breaks is good for your mental health. It makes you realize that there’s a life beyond social media to explore and needs nurturing.

2. Plan the amount of time you want to spend using social media- Prioritize certain time periods throughout the day or the number of hours you spend on your phone. Set yourself a maximum amount of time you want to use being online and aim not to exceed that limit. The chances are that when you’re exceeding that limit it’s because you’re wasting time aimlessly scrolling on your socials out of boredom.

3. Set times where you absolutely do not check social media- I have this rule that I don’t check any of my social media accounts first thing in the morning. In fact, I won’t check my socials until after 9:30am. I am a firm believer that what you consume as soon as you wake up can have a lasting impact on the rest of your day. If you’re feeling pressure to post or you see something negative first thing in the morning, you’re going to be anxious and overwhelmed. You want to start your day in the best state of mind possible. I’ve found that by implementing this rule especially I feel much more confident and less drained.

4. Have a hobby that does not involve using social media- I find reading and doing crafty activities keeps me grounded. It’s important to enjoy other things outside of being online. Imagine if the internet goes down for a whole week? You have to think about other things you’d enjoy doing and do those things on a frequent basis.

5. Decide whether being constantly active on social media is necessary- If you find being overly present on social media more draining than fun and you aren’t using it for business purposes or to push a greater cause then you should re-evaluate whether it’s necessary to use so frequently. I know there’s a lot of pressure to be on social media but you don’t have to use it because of everyone else. You are in control of how much you use it and you get to decide when you want to switch off.

Questions for you: 

How do you carve out time for yourself?

Can you relate to anything above? Or if not what is your perspective on this topic?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Love Ash, xx

Copyright © AshAlves 2018, All Rights Reserved

20 responses to “Social Media is draining: How to preserve your energy and keep engaged online.”

  1. Yes lovely. xx It can be draining if we spend too much time there. I like the boundary you set for in the morning. What they refer to as ‘branding’, I call self promotion. That’s exhausting!

    I don’t have my Blog connected to social media anymore. I stopped promoting it there and simply enjoy being a part of the WordPress community. My Blog hasn’t suffered nearly as much as I did. Thank you for sharing lovely. xxx

    Liked by 5 people

    1. I loved how you said that! I don’t see it as ‘branding’ either. That word doesn’t resonate with me and it sounds more like a chore. Just like you I see it as promoting myself- in an authentic way. And that’s interesting how you mentioned about wordpress. I sometimes feel like I’m forced to promote it on my other socials even though I don’t like the energy on those sites especially Facebook. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts. I’m glad to know I’m not alone in feeling like this xxxx

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Maybe that is what we do. Enjoy each community for what is there. I love connecting in WordPress. xx

        I believe a lot of people feel ‘forced’, or under obligation to promote their businesses on FB. After placing a large chunk of time and energy into it, FB wasn’t giving back, or enhancing my life in the least. You are nowhere near alone love. xx As always… a pleasure. xxx

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I love how your post came at such a great time. I have a post in my drafts about mental health and social media, but it wasn’t coming out right and I wanted to add in useful information from the last few events I went to but again it wasn’t going well. And here you are delivering a perfect piece with the information needed! Thank you ash for your perfect timing. I feel like you said what needed to be said so well 💕

    Liked by 3 people

    1. You still need to post it!! It’d be helpful to see other people’s perspective and approach on this topic- I know you’ll have some useful insights. To tell the truth, I was struggling to post this one because I didn’t want to be perceived as complaining and I was struggling on putting my thoughts together. I’m glad to hear that this post was useful for you. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I might have to revisit the post and post it because your piece has given me a lot to think about and it has helped me put my thoughts together better.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I agree, very helpful too

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Thank you for reading, i’m glad it helps! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  4. This is extremely helpful and timely. I am working on a habit of spending less time on social media. My Instagram is personal and more on the business side on one account. I’ve noticed that when I’m on there sometimes, I I get a negative effect. So I unfollow certain people and follow more positive ones.
    Also, I believe it’s a great thing to be careful what we watch, read, hear, etc before going to bed because it can have a positive or negative impact on our minds and spirit.
    Thanks for sharing this with us.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I didn’t realise you commented. Firstly thank you so much for taking your time out to read this! Yesss that’s so good. If i’m getting negative vibes from someone I will mute or un-follow them too. I think preserving your energy is very important especially if you use social media on a frequent basis. I agree with that, I’ve noticed that when I read/ watch/listen to something negative before I go to bed, it messes with my dreams and puts me in a low mood when I wake up. Thanks for your insight, I hope you have a lovely week 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you. I hope you have a lovely week too.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. I definitely feel its more obligatory than fun! I fall in and out of love with Instagram. I’ve been trying a different tactic whereby I’m keeping right up to date with new posts on my feed, this way I only need to spend a minute or two liking/commenting on the few new posts, rather than scrolling and scrolling! When I get the “you’re all up to date” notice I can stop. I’ve been doing this for around a week and must say, I’ve not noticed any difference in return engagement, However, I have gained over 20 followers (which is very unusual)!

    Great post and very insightful!

    Samantha x

    https://thebeautyspyglass.com

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Yes I can relate to the love hate relationship with Instagram. I think it’s a great platform for bloggers however it’s very draining keeping up with all of the content. That’s interesting how you gained followers! I think gaining the most of it when you use it instead of endless scrolling for hours is not only effective but will make us feel less drained. Thank you for reading, I look forward to reading your blog xx

      Like

  6. great post!…………………I love to be unplugged once a week.this I disconnected for 2 days in the week.It is a great reboot.I got a lot more goodness done before the giving of thanksgiving:)

    Liked by 3 people

    1. That’s great! Very important that we unplug sometimes and enjoy life outside of this digital world. Thank you so much for reading and commenting. Have a lovely week 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  7. This are all great ideas. I think we’ve forgotten that we are in control of social media, not the other way around. I wrote about turning my notifications off a few months ago. Ever since then, I’ve not turned them back on. It allows me the freedom to check when I want to, instead of when I hear a noise or see a little red dot 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I need to turn my notifications off too. I’ve done it with Instagram but I still get notifications from other apps. Seeing pop ups first thing in the morning really bugs me so I always turn my data off and don’t turn it on until a certain time. Yes that’s true we are in control of social media. It’s not helpful to think it’s happening to us but instead that we choose how & when we get to use it. It really is as simple as not logging into your socials. Thanks for stopping by as always 💜

      Liked by 1 person

  8. A wonderful and delightful blog!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much, have a lovely week ☺️💜

      Liked by 1 person

      1. You as well, Ash! Thanks, and you’re sincerely welcome!

        Liked by 1 person

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