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Last week my husband and I went on vacation to Holden Beach, North Carolina. North Carolina was his home for about 20 years and mine for 9, and we try to go back once a year or so to visit. This year, in conjunction with our beach vacation, I decided to also take a total social media break.
I Deleted My Social Media Apps From My Phone
On Friday after we dropped our pets off at the boarding farm, I deleted ALL of my social media apps from my phone. This included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. I kept YouTube on my phone because I don’t really ever look at it anyway. Facebook Messenger also stayed, because several of my friends and family members use it to communicate with me on a regular basis.
I had been reading so many articles recently about social media breaks, and the negative impact too much social media use is having on our lives. I also had peeked at my “Screen Time” app on my phone recently and saw the obnoxious number of hours per day and pickups per day that were happening. So, I decided to give it a try for myself.
Now, as a digital marketer with actually THREE ventures that include regular posting to and networking on social media for business purposes, it might sound odd that I just deleted my apps. Though I considered it, I actually didn’t even schedule any posts to go live while I was gone. Since I wouldn’t have been online to reply to any comments or questions, I felt like it would have been weird. Ghost posts is what I called it in the video I did earlier this week.
Shutting it all completely down for 9 days probably wasn’t the best decision algorithm-wise. Facebook and Instagram especially have been a bit slow to start back up for me, and I assume it is because I knocked myself down in the algorithm. But, I don’t regret it, and I’m going to tell you why.
Before: I Was So Overwhelmed
Before my vacation, I was so overwhelmed with all of my “things.” I started Digital Darcy in July, and starting a business is a LOT of work. Time, energy, stress, and just … lots of work. I also have a lifestyle blog, PreservingMySanity.com, and I’m also a Market Partner for MONAT. Add to this my eCornell Integrated 360 Marketing Certificate classes, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, food preservation of all of our garden things during garden harvest time, pets, chickens … you know – “all of the things.” I was trying to get a balance between consistent content scheduling for my three business ventures and all of the other tasks, and I was so overwhelmed.
Before: I Had Self-Doubt
I started Digital Darcy in July because I was unexpectedly laid off from my full-time job. Going full-time with PreservingMySanity.com and MONAT was actually on my vision board, but it was on there for a much later date, after these ventures were on their way to replacing my full-time income. With the layoff, I decided it was a good time to give it a go, but I also added Digital Darcy to the equation.
With any new venture though, you can’t help but doubt yourself. It had been a few years since I stepped a bit away from the marketing world. Who was I to think I could do this? Who will hire me? Are there any businesses in this area that even need my help? Does anyone even care? How long do I try this before I go get a “real job?” Etc.
What’s Mindset Got to Do with It?
A couple of weeks before my vacation, my MONAT team started a 45-day Mindset Challenge. There are things we are supposed to do every day, and we have an accountability group where we share with each other. One of the things we are supposed to do every day is to spend 10 minutes looking at our vision board. We look at the things on it, and visualize how we will feel when each goal is met … I mean really look at it. One of the other things we are supposed to do every day is to listen to Earl Nightingale’s “The Strangest Secret” speech.
The thought behind mindset basically is if you believe good things will happen to you, they will. If you don’t, they won’t. You need to get rid of the self-doubt, just toss it right out the window. You ARE good enough, and what you BELIEVE will happen, will eventually happen.
Honestly, when we started all of it, I wasn’t totally sold. Listen to a 35-minute recording EVERY DAY for 45 days? I don’t have time for that! But, I started doing it. It turns out it takes me 35 minutes to walk my dogs 2 miles, so I listen to it while I walk them. It also turns out that I started to LOOK FORWARD to it. And, I can now hear Earl Nightingale’s words in my head.
What’s the Beach Got to Do with It?
When we go to the beach for vacation, my husband and I barely see each other. We stay in an oceanfront home, and he spends most of his waking minutes fishing. Meanwhile, I spend most of my time there sitting in the sunshine, reading books, taking walks on the beach, and relaxing.
So, during all of this sunshine-sitting, without any social media apps on my phone, I truly got to clear my head. I did have my email of course, so I checked that once a day. I had to write one article for a paid assignment during the week, and I had to answer one inquiry email. Otherwise, I didn’t work at all.
Somewhere in the middle of all of the mindset activities from the two weeks prior, and the beach viewing, things became more clear in my head. They say the beach will do that.
What Did a Social Media Break Do for Me?
My social media break, in conjunction with my vacation, allowed me to totally clear my mind. Here are some of my takeaways.
#1: I’m no longer overwhelmed.
I have all of my projects and tasks in my Trello and Google Calendar. (This is a really awesome setup, let me know if you want to know more about it!) I don’t set due dates further out than one week (unless required for certain projects or tasks.) First, I set my top 3-5 priorities for each day. If I get those done I move on to additional tasks. If something doesn’t get done, it moves to the next day. In the wise words of my awesome business advisor, “There is only one Darcy.”
#2: I have an overall sense of confident peace.
The self-doubt questions in my head have dissolved. I have been working so hard, and so many good things are happening. While I was nearly offline for 9 days, I had so many opportunities present themselves related to my business. I had interview opportunities come my way for exposure to both Preserving My Sanity and to Digital Darcy, I was invited to go talk to the local high school students next week for Career Day, I had a few prospective client inquiries come in, etc. These things all happened while I wasn’t even paying attention. I wasn’t in my office OR online! There is a big picture, I can see it, and I am confident it will come into place.
#3: I was able to enjoy my vacation more fully.
I cooked meals, I walked on the beach, I took a ton of photos of the beach, I read books, I listened to music. For me, since I use social media primarily for business, there always feels like a bit of a sense of urgency to it. Like, I have to check Facebook to see if there is a freelance gig I should reach out about in my feed. Or, I have to check Instagram because someone might have asked me a question on my latest post. Or, I have to go on LinkedIn to see if anyone has sent me a message about a job. These things are all important, but they aren’t important every minute of the day. No one should work every minute of the day. It isn’t healthy.
#4: I didn’t really miss it as I expected!
I do have to be completely transparent and tell you that I logged into Facebook mobile on my phone on the 3rd day of our vacation. There was a nagging feeling that I was missing important notifications, so I had to look. BUT – I only looked once a day, only at Facebook, and I didn’t initiate any posts.
What am I Going to Change?
On the way home, while we waited for our final flight, I added all of my apps back to my phone. I did consider leaving the apps off my phone completely and just using social media on my laptop only. However, there are just certain times I need to have the apps on my phone. So, I re-installed them, and am going to try to set limits for myself.
#1: Limit After-Hour Use
Ideally, I will only look at my social media apps during normal business hours. This is tricky for me, because I do have my own business, and some things do happen after hours. I think the most important thing here will just be to make a conscious effort of it and TRY not to use it much after hours.
#2: Set Limits with Screen Time App if Needed
If I’m unable to limit it in this way, I might try setting limits in the “Screen Time” app to only let me have xx number of minutes per day on Facebook, Instagram, etc. I think this app control is generally used for children, but I’m not too ashamed to set limits for myself.
#3: Disable Apps from Working Between 8 PM and 8 AM
I am going to see how it goes, but you can also set times on your phone to just make the apps unavailable. This is similar to “Screen Time” I suppose, but you can set them to not work after 8 pm or before 8 am (for example.)
#4: Limit the Scroll
It is easy to get caught up in the apps as you see all the pretty pictures, funny videos, etc. I am also a member of several business groups, so there are a lot of those posts mixed in with what I see as well. It’s important to limit all of that. Instead of going to Instagram and scrolling and scrolling, I’ve been just popping in for a minute and liking and commenting on whatever I see in a minute, and I have been doing the same thing with Facebook. Am I missing things this way? I’m sure. But, you could also scroll all day and likely not see everything. At some point, you have to stop scrolling.
Final Thoughts
So, those are my thoughts. I am really happy that I took this social media break. I’m working hard this week to post daily to all of my platforms. Hopefully, this will tell those algorithms I’m back. I’m also working hard to remember why I took the break in the first place.
Have you taken a social media break? Do you want to? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
