TikToking your life away?

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Time. Sometimes we guard it, sometimes we throw it away. Either way, we never feel like we have enough of it. This is especially true for me when it comes to being creative. Last Autumn, I was frustrated that I wasn’t finding time in my week to get any art or writing done.

About the same time, I had started to study my weekly phone analytics properly and was shocked to see that I was spending an average of 2 hours 40 minutes per day on social media. The evidence was clear and I couldn’t duck it. For me, that felt way too much. Nearly 18 hours each week when I could be moving forward with creative projects and things that inspire and excite me rather than…

s c r o l l i n g.

I started to notice too was how I was feeling before and after going on social media. I would begin by being excited, looking at ‘likes’ and comments on my posts and enjoying updating my feed. Then came the drop. A heavy bump as I started to compare myself with other creatives. I would inevitably end up coveting their skills, their output, their commitment, their business acumen. I would eventually leave dispirited and discouraged.

I decided the time for action had come. I cut out all social media use for 3 months and at the end of the experiment, I would decide if I wanted to go back on. Rather than deleting my accounts, I hid the icons on my phone to make it harder to access them.

The positive effects were immediate and profound. My mental health improved as I was no longer subjecting myself to the crippling self-sabotaging effects of comparison. I was also benefitting from the time to pursue my passions and start creating stuff I cared about - like developing a course I wanted to run on creativity, I started to learn Italian, I trained for a half-marathon and I committed to art practice every day. It reminded me of the three times when I have quit alcohol for six month periods at certain stages in my life. You don’t realise how much something has power over you, your general wellbeing and productivity levels until you step back.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by the constant demands and pressure that come with social media, why not quit for a bit and see what happens…After a while, you may decide you want and need social media in your life - but at least you might come back to it with a renewed perspective and control over how you use it.