Stop Complaining about Social Media, it’s the Approach That Counts
It may be negatively affecting your work today, but let’s fix that
Social media is an awesome tool in today’s digital environment and helps us build communities faster and easier. With a community, you can share and learn new ideas, grow a loyal following and even capitalize on that to form a market base for personal or business growth or monetization in the future.
All these things sound amazing. But they are not that easy. Personally, I have always cringed at the fact that most content creators, businesses and individuals today need to have proper knowledge and grasp of social media tools. And trust me, I do not speak from the guru’s point of view.
I’m not a guru.
So why am I writing this article? It’s simple. I have been learning a lot about social media tools for years now, and there are certain pitfalls that I fell into before I had the necessary knowledge I needed to use social media tools more to my advantage. Pitfalls as regards the use of social media and the way it affects my work. These are the pitfalls I want to share with you, the negative effect on social media on your work, and how to correct that
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
1. It Provides Major Distractions.
Many of us today have created this notion in our heads that the ideal worker of this generation is always connected online. As a result, we never totally go off Whatsapp, we reply every single email in minutes, and we respond to Instagram comments in record time. But if you understand the rule of focus, this habit will be detrimental to the quality of your work over time. It was for me, because initially I never set boundaries for when people can reach me online and when they can’t. You can never fully concentrate on your task at hand if you give anyone and everyone the power to distract you at any given moment.
2. It Leads to Frequent Comparison.
Oh yes, one of my all-time favourites. I am so guilty of this and constantly struggling to stop it (I have gotten way better over time). I started using so many social media tools late in my life (about 3 years ago) and since I couldn’t get a hold of how they worked early enough, I guess they got a hold of me instead. For every single creative idea I had about my work or even what to share with my community, I would ask myself:
“Is this idea just as cool as what X posted the other day?”
“Should I even share this?”
“Other people online probably have better ideas than me, so it’s best I keep this to myself”.
Needless to say I was harming my self-esteem and confidence as well. And to work creatively and be productive, you need that inner confidence that tells you that you have what it takes to get the job done. Comparison steals this away from you.
3. It can Induce a Lack of Originality.
Using social media tools may sometimes present us with the temptation to want to do what others are doing once we see that it’s working for them. But we forget that the essence of our jobs is to create value for the people around us (or the organization we work in) from our unique point of view, not from a popular one. When we face tough times at our work, whether we work independently or for someone else, its highly tempting to want to create a knock off version of an idea or project that has worked for another individual or firm, and where else to get those ideas if not on social media?
4. It’s Just Truly Time Wasting.
Time is money, cliché and true. You need to have time to get to work on a job that makes you money. And since social media tools can also be distracting, it just means that more of the time we are supposed to be using to work is being used to watch reels on Instagram and the latest ball dresses on Pinterest. These particular things may not be your taste, but you still need to listen if you spend hours swiping on your phone with no productive activities taking place.
Anytime you hold your phone or laptop and you are browsing through any online resource or social media application, ask yourself:
Is this a priority right now?
Is what I am doing going to help me achieve an important and/or urgent goal?
Is there something better I can be doing with my time?
Am I actually learning something?
If it is actually a waste of time, then you wouldn’t even need to get to the second question to drop that gadget and work on something more important.
HOW TO MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA 100% BENEFICIAL TO YOU
This part of the article isn’t about the specific functions of social media tools. Here, I want to talk about how you can correct the negative effects listed above.
1. To Stop Distractions, Set Boundaries
You need to have a system in place that doesn’t allow you to get those distracting notifications. For some individuals, blocking apps work best. Applications like OurPact and AppBlock can help you with this. Personally, I just turn off my notifications when I want to work. Remember, it’s not just about stopping the distraction from coming to you, it’s about building the self will not to get distracted in the first place.
Downloading a notification blocker app is of no use if you can’t resist the urge to go online and check for messages yourself, when you should be working.
2. Weaken Your Comparisons by Working on Self-Confidence
Frequent comparison and self-confidence are two things that do not go hand in hand. A simple way to start boosting your confidence today is to first of all accept where you are right now and be a positive thinker. There may be people who can do a certain job better than you, and that is ok. Rather, focus on asking yourself:
“In X number of months/years, how good do I want to be at my work? And what do I need to do to get there?”
You need to believe that you have the ability to get the job done, and if you don’t have the ability now, you should have plans for how to get it done in the future. Once your mindset is fixed on accepting where you are now and where you are headed, you will naturally have no need to criticize your work because of other people’s abilities.
3. Need More Originality? Learn to fuel your own creativity
It is one thing to get better at what you do, and it is something else to be able to come up with new ideas often (and have the skill to implement them). To produce more work that stem from your original ideas, you need to fuel your creativity.
I have written an entire Medium article about this, so click below to read it here:
Developing the skill of creativity comes naturally to some, and it takes a little while for others. Whatever works for you, it also helps when you avoid the temptation of copying other peoples work just because it looks so good.
4. Develop the habit of being prudent with your time.
Saying this as simply as I can, use your time exactly how you would use your money. Time management is a critical factor in being successful at whatever work you do. You need to dedicate relevant chunks of time for your most important tasks and less time for leisure activities. Scrap out all unnecessary tasks completely, which includes swiping through your Pinterest for no good reason.
Time management also takes a lot of discipline, so you have to be prepared to say no every time you feel like using social media as a helper for your laziness. Once your realize that that you are wasting time, just stop it immediately and check your list of priorities to know what you should be doing for the day.
Social media was made for our benefit as well guys, let’s use it the right way.
Thanks for reading!
