Have you ever considered a digital detox?
Think about what social media means to you. I think that it's really interesting how people perceive social media because it has often developed a bad reputation in some cases. For example, many people believe that social media infiltrates their life.
Much like life, social media is all about how you filter it.
Set your boundaries!
On Facebook, you can unfollow anyone or any page that is not lifting your mood, you can turn on notifications for the posts that you want to see more of, you can snooze somebody for 30 days or you can actually unfriend people if you don’t feel that they are adding value to your life.
You are allowed to do this on both social media and in your life; social media platforms and how you deal with them are actually a reflection of life. For example, sometimes we can't escape those people that are quite negative, but we can reset our boundaries. Ask yourself, are these people going to be in my life? If they are, maybe we need to think about how we approach them. Maybe we need to think about how we deal with our energies around that particular person and if it's really toxic, it could be time to let go.
Social Media is the same.
Throughout lockdown, social media became a life saver for a lot of people, with many people using it and finding comfort in it more than they regularly would. It also highlighted our own boundaries and where we needed take a break.
Once a month I have a digital detox. There are two ways that you can do this;
· Cut off completely
· Manage your device
From time to time, we all need time off from our phones, allow yourself that time to give yourself a complete detox and cut off completely from the rest of the world.
Alternatively, you can manage your phone; change the settings to allow you to have ‘me time’, ‘work time’ and ‘weekend time’. This prevents you from using certain apps. For example, when I'm at work I can't access Whatsapp, therefore it’s not a distraction. During my ‘me time’, I can't access my email or my to-do list. It can be so tempting to check these out of work hours and doing this, really highlights how many times you will go to check your emails or add something on to a to-do list. Some phones allow you to look at your usage and you can see your screen time. This is great for beginning to implement those boundaries – give yourself a maximum screen time.
What I really want you to take from this, is that social media is not always a bad thing, it is often a life saver. It all depends on how you manage it, how you manage yourself and how you manage the people around you.
My top tips to bear in mind
· Set your boundaries
· Manage your device
· Switch everything off every now and again
· Take some time out to be present, give yourself permission to press pause!
Take a bit of me-time
If you’re in need of a break from the digital realm, a retreat may be the perfect opportunity for you press pause, evaluate your boundaries and realign.