I really don’t know how to say this, I suppose frankly is the only way … I’m taking back the reins on social media. Hopefully my words don’t come across as bitter or snarky, that’s not my intention. My intention is to inspire you into a life of freedom. This fourth quarter of the year has had me doing a lot of cleaning (cause, what else is there to do?). I’ve been decluttering everywhere from my kitchen cupboards to my bathroom vanity bottom drawer (the graveyard of all things beauty related that betrayed me). The more I declutter, the freer I feel. With scaled down closets and empty corners, come a renewed hope in possibility. Without the burden of weight unused, I gain the freedom to live lighter and happier.
Marie Kondo wrote in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.
“Don’t keep gifts out of guilt,” “After the joy of the gift-giving moment is through, you can donate the gift without guilt. It has served its purpose.”
Obliviously Marie’s principles apply well to the “re-gifting” closet stash … but what about social media? Is social media bringing you joy? If not, I have some ideas to help you de-clutter your social accounts.
- Start Unfriending
We all have “friends” on Facebook that aren’t truly a friend. These are the people you’ve met once, then you got a friend request from them. They wander in and out of your life through a “like” or maybe a comment soon after the first connection. Years later they still appear in your friend list yet you have no real relationship. It’s OK to unfriend the “I met them from back when . . .” The smaller your friend list becomes, the more you’ll engage with the people you want to have online interaction with.
- Use social media as a relational tool
With a smaller friend list, I can engage in the lives of people I truly want to be connected with. No more mindless scrolling through countless posts I have no care about seeing … and wasn’t going to interact with. If you’re scrolling past them without care, why keep them in your news feed? Those family pictures, memes, or updates – now call to my attention in a relational way. Social media can be an encouraging and a fun social tool if we’re able to make our world a little smaller by interacting with those we truly want to be in connection with.
- Your account, your rules
If someone has not treated you well in person, why allow them into your online social life? Having a Facebook account does not mean you have to have all your family, neighbors, office staff, high school friends, church acquaintances, etc., be involved in your online life. It’s OK to not be friends with everyone, in fact it’s freeing. If you’re feeling guilty about unfriending someone, ask yourself why? Then remind yourself that this is your account, you get to decide the parameters and boundaries of your interactions.
Facebook isn’t going anywhere and chances are your friends who use it aren’t either (Believe me, I’ve tried to get mine to switch to a different social platform… and failed!). With some social de-cluttering, you can experience joy in your social accounts. Much like everything else we own, let it be purposeful with intentional use – to comment, like, engage and encourage!
Do you have any ideas for cleaning up social media? Or have you already? I’d love to hear, drop me a comment!
♥
