For the past couple of years I have been in a battle with social media. I understand its importance for promotion and seeking out jobs. I have gained new clients in the past from it and seeked out new opportunities.
Over the past year especially I have been feeling its effect in a not so positive way. Since doing 'The Earlybird', a vlog style series documenting the creation of a lockdown film, it has been clear the amount of extra time and focus social media takes from me.
Setting aside time to cross promote the YouTube series, film the vlog episodes and then schedule the release each week has taken hours upon hours on top of all the filming and prepping I had to do.
These precious hours could have been used to edit the film as I went, retake shots I wasn't 100% happy with and also just stop every now and then, have a cup of tea or a beer, let my mind rest and get on with life a little!
With this awareness I started to think about my social idea presence in general, the chimes and dings of notifications, the distracting little red alert symbols above....everything!
I had a look at my screen time over my devices, phone and computers. At least an hour each day is spent on these sites, in a the midst of 'The Earlybird' it was totalling over 15 hours a week. 15 HOURS! That's nearly 2 x 8 hour days. Lost....gone.
I am not judging people who use social media. In fact when done well it is an incredibly powerful tool but I've realised it is not where I want to be putting my energy.
The cons on mental health and distraction far outweigh the pros of engagement and the odd job I get from it.
I think for a time now I will be sharing these blog posts on the Tate Creations Facebook page but I won't to reduce my time scrolling through news feeds and monitoring engagement statistics.
It is a refreshing feeling and over the past couple fo weeks I have felt better in myself and my attitude towards social media. I will still monitor comments/notifications that specifically tag myself or the company in the post but I will do this through setting up email alerts rather then sitting on the sites and undoubtedly getting dragged into the infinite scroll mentality!
Let's see how this goes....I will keep track and let you all know if this is beneficial or detrimental for the company and myself.
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