It’s been an exciting one month partial break from some social media platforms. It was a partial break because I took the decision to uninstall some apps from my devices and to take stock of my life so far. I must say it has been a rewarding exercise and I really did not miss much. I am a strong advocate for taking social media fasts especially from those apps which are irrelevant to one’s day to day activities and do not bring any direct impact in our lives. We are in a time when one cannot do awaytotally with social media but we can learn to go off for a while as we build our personal and professional lives.

FOMO

Incase you have never come across this term, FOMO simply means, fear of missing out. And to be honest, after my long break, I realised that there is nothing to miss out. All the events and news are on websites and on television anyway. Sometimes, we fear missing out so much that we use our last resources on data and still profit nothing. That is why I am grateful for wholesome content creators and online businesses putting their resources to good use while still enjoying the entertainment that comes with being online.

Investment

Our forebears did not know a thing about social media and were able to build viable ventures that some of us fortunate to be earning income from even after they are long gone. We as a generation also need to invest time and resources in ventures that are profitable to us and to those around us. Investment comes in various forms and so if you think one social media or the other is not beneficial, you need to rethink its use. Some people scroll through media with no aim in mind while others find it as a gold mine. The choice is yours to decide.

Sustainability

Truth is, there is nothing out there that we are missing out on except for the occasional gossip news and drama which sparks some interest. We need to build more sustainable ways of handling social media in less time than we spend there. Social media must promote one’s business or personal brand and not for online hate speech and cyberbullying like we see today. Others also use it to track victims of abuse and monitor their growth only to denegrate them the least chance they get. This should not be the focus of social media and cybercrimes should not go unpunished.

Growth

In all of this, one may ask so what can we do differently to grow and stay focused. What I have done in this period is to follow traditional media like television and radio for news updates. I have found them better because the news are timely and more detailed unlike the short graphic designs splashing across social media handles which only have headlines and are sometimes fake news afterall. Also, I have followed pages that only feed me with career opportunities and professional events that will be useful to my career advancement and so on. Let’s do better with our social media and educate others to do same going forward.