Staying off of Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube until 8pm was a good start in terms of creating a new habit around checking social media. However, I found that only checking social media once, and at a fairly late hour, lacked some of the benefits that social media provides.
Thus, today I adjusted the parameters of my action plan to fulfill on my intention to stay focused on big tasks and be present in life, instead of habitually going to social media every 10 minutes (exaggeration).
Here were the new parameters:
- when focusing on "serious" work, like editing my upcoming ebook, social media is off limits
- if I'm on a break, meal break or rest break, it's okay to use social media
- I am allowed to check social media at 11am and 4pm, around the same time I check email and other messages
I'll be honest, I checked social media a little more often than I intended. Not that it's bad or wrong, just that I didn't stick to my plan - which I'm not a fan of.
It's clear that the main purpose of changing my social media habits is to stay focused for longer periods of time and avoid distraction. If I have A, B, and C to get done one day, then it's most important that my focus stays on A, B, and C.
For example, if I dedicate the hours of 1-5 pm to do task A, it's best if my focus goes like this:
- 1:00-3:00pm: start Task A
- 3:00-3:30: break, snack, social media
- 3:30-5:00pm: complete Task A
As opposed to the social media ridden version:
- 1:00-1:05: start task A
- 1:05-1:08: check facebook cause of notification pop up
- 1:08-1:11: go to instagram habitually
- 1:11-:1:40: continue task A
- 1:40-2:20: break, watch youtube video
- 2:20-2:43: continue task A
- 2:43-2:46: check to see how many people watched my Instagram story of me dancing
- 2:46-3:02: continue task A
You get the picture. Clearly, there is power in staying focused for long periods of time. Staying off of social media is just a byproduct of that.
The lesson here is that it's much less about not doing social media, and much more about doing what I intend on doing. This goes for focusing on tasks or being present in life.
I will say this, without a set intention or plan, I can EASILY fill up empty space of time with just being on social media mindlessly.
For me, I plan on being more intentional with those empty space of 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there. That time could be spent brainstorming ideas, reflecting, reading a chapter of a book, watching an educational video, or something that can keep moving me forward towards my big dreams.
Will there still be gaps of 5-10 minutes throughout the day where I check my social media stuff? Of course. What I'm looking for is to reduce my social media rate to about 2-3 checks per day. Rather than it being the default "what should I do right now" activity.
Anywho! That's the update on my social media habits!
Peace
