Any modern social media user knows how much time could it take to surf any of them. It seems simple: you just log in to kill some time, to check friends’ news aaand… you lose a few hours. One doesn’t need to stay near the computer constantly to be an active user: smartphone apps, mobile versions, tuned-up notifications, everything is for you not to meet anything.
The described happening gains such a big scale, that psychologists actively speak of social media dependency. But now we won’t speak about that. As social media can give you much as well: the possibility to continue communicating with people far away, to find people thinking like you, to learn something new, to get interesting info and to filter it on your own choosing only what you really need.
It is difficult to refuse all this completely, but it is real to act in a way making time spent on social media not to be wasted in vain. Here are some tips from expert custom essay writers who know how to deal with social networks due to their job.
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1. Content Consuming “Filters”
Unsubscribe from people and channels that publish negative emotional material on purpose, or at least hide them from your news line. The same thing should be done with the content that is not interesting for you anymore. Once in six months, devote some time to “clean” your subscriptions and friend-list. This is how you can protect yourself from the consumption of info which literally is nothing but “noise”.
2. Limit Subscriptions to Entertainment Channels
Undoubtfully, social media are about entertainments. There is nothing bad in your being subscribed to communities where funny videos with cats and other animals are regularly posted, or reading jokes in public groups with humorous topics.
Yet it is not obligatory to follow all the channels like that. First, you will not be able to consume all the contents. Second, content materials will double (this is the Internet specifics, you can do nothing about that). So, stay subscribed to some of your really favorite communities and delete others having the same topic. You won’t lose much if to do like that.
3. Subscribe to Users and Communities that Publish Info You Need
Everything is obvious here. In social media, one can find numerous topical pages on different topics. Once you subscribe to their news, you will get materials that can make your staying in social media useful. This is one of the best possibilities of such resources: you can get actual, useful and interesting content in one place, and to work with it at any suitable time.
The same goes for separate users, opinion leaders, experts of different branches. This is how you can get content at once and to ask for a piece of advice if needed. So, don’t be afraid to get in touch with others and to ask questions.
4. Find Your Balance
It is difficult: time spent on social media is amorphic, it is not easy to control it. But if to have a certain amount of experience in social media usage and to provide at least starting analysis, you can determine your own limits and volumes of information you consume. To say simply: to find out how much content you can look through and remember.
Of course, they use social media not only for this, but if to talk about this certain aspect, it is fine to put some limits for yourself here. For instance, the quantity of pages you subscribe to. Let’s be sincere: the most part of publications remains unnoted at any case. So, come back to point 1 of this article and leave only things that are important for you. This will additionally help you avoid getting an information overload.
5. Devote Precise Time to Social Media
Think this to be a disciplining measure, not a limitation. Procrastination that shows up in a useless scrolling down the news line is the evil habit of many modern people. And it is a time trap as well.
You need to learn how to control time you spend in social media in order to deal with procrastination. And time limits are what you are better to start with. It will be unbelievably difficult to keep up to those limits, especially if you are used to react on every possible notification, to respond every message and to put a “like” to a new post of your friend first of all.
Once you get a habit, you’ll see there are not that many things happening during your “absence”. And there are absolutely no things that require you to react immediately. So, determine 2-3 time periods during the day when you will use social media. Does it seem difficult? Move from the other side: shorten time you spend there until there will be precise periods. Then, lower the quantity of those periods and their internal length as well.
6. Turn off Notifications and Extensions
This is a measure that logically comes out of a previous point. The most critical form of it is to delete apps from your gadgets completely. But you doubtfully should go that far. But, switching off notifications that only waste your time and distract you on purpose is a required move.
These functions have their goal clear, banal and obvious: to involve the user. And they are needed only if social media are your professional field. If no: you can live without those notifications at all.
7. Say “No!” to Mindless Scrolling!
There goes another thing that can help you clean your account form unnecessary subscriptions. Look through news materials consciously. You probably didn’t think about how people consume contents, but try holding a little experiment and take a look from aside onto yourself when scrolling down the news line.
The most part of people just “catch” pieces of interesting info they like. The other content gets thrown out by the filter constructed during years: you pay attention to a header and a picture.
So, do you read everything that gets into your news line? Doubtfully. Then, why do you need that material?
8. You Don’t Need to be Everywhere
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn… It is only the beginning of a long list of existing social media. Every single website of those has its own bunch of functions and special features.
People can run by the fashion, or have their personal or other motives and register their profiles on the most part of popular resources. As a result, they spend more time in social media and accounts do not bring anything useful or satisfying. So, determine several platforms that will satisfy your needs maximally, and use them only. This will be more than enough to communicate and to get the needed info.