The social media is amazing, I love it. So much rich, educating and entertaining contents all over the place.
This post isn’t to talk less of the relevance of social media in our lives, rather it is to call your attention to other very important things you may be neglecting while being engrossed with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other media platforms on your mobile device.
To many of us, punching or scrolling through our phone screens to check the latest entertainment news or update from people is an excuse from a boring conversation.
You most likely have found yourself picking up your mobile device unconsciously even in the middle of a conversation or meeting with a group of people. Your sincere intention wasn’t to be rude, you probably just got a notification of the release of an episode of your favourite TV series.
I used to spend a chunk of my time on social media as well, and at the end of the day it just seemed like 24 hours wasn’t a long enough time for me to do all the important tasks for each day. I ended up with piles of work left unattended to.
I enjoyed chatting (and still do) and knowing everything going on in the world, but I have also realized that spending more time on social media causes more harm than good.
I almost lost relationships that mattered the most to me, I was slack at my duties, couldn’t meet up with deadlines, I even almost lost myself.
The daily routine of many runs like this:
- Wake up, pick up your phone and check the comments and number of likes on your last Facebook post
- Scroll through Instagram over breakfast
- Getting to the office or class, you quickly flip to twitter to check trending posts
- You check Facebook and Instagram again in-between work or class
- You’re there again during breaks
- You get home and there you are on social media again in bed till your phone falls out of your grasp when you sleep off.
- Some people will even check social media at midnight
This activity though enjoyable weakens your productivity and quality of life
I want to point out the things you should focus on instead of social media, these things would help to increase your productivity exponentially.
Your relationships
An excellent way to achieve this is by spending time with your family and friends. Let your loved ones know you’re with them when you’re there, don’t be busy with social media when they need your attention.
It may sometimes be difficult to raise topics for discussion but try, it’s better than they watching you giggle and grin over your phone.
Focus on yourself
There is more to life than social media, build up yourself. You can develop new habits such as creative and critical thinking instead of putting your mind under undue pressure because of the things you see on the media.
- Start journaling
- Know yourself better
- Have time for self-reflection
- Read books
- Create new goals and achieve them
- Learn new skills
Going out
Being indoors and idle aid will only aid your social media activities so, do the opposite. Go out more often, I mean go to places where you can learn good things and become a better person.
Take a walk sometime, it will help calm you down and pay better attention to your environment.
Don’t shy away from conversations with strangers by staring into your phone, that stranger might just be the helper you need.
Do you think you can live a better life without making social media a priority? Will these points help improve your quality of life?
Let me know what you think.
Kindly share this post if you’ve found it helpful.
Originally published at https://oladimejialaka.com on June 30, 2020.