Social Sanity

Over the past several months, I have spent way more time on social media than intended or originally envisioned. While it's been a fun journey and I've met amazing new friends and developed a few rusty skills, it's alarming just how many hours my phone tells me I spend on these apps. It's time that I'm more and more recognizing is taking away from the opportunity to be with people in real life, and to read.

I'm not going on a hiatus at this point, but I can certainly understand why this is common. It's quite a consuming activity, and for me, easy to get trapped into all the things I think I should be doing.

While I didn't really set up guidelines for myself when I first started posting to my Bookstagram account, I have noticed a few things I've tried to do over time so that I can preserve what social sanity remains in my life. It's also not a prescriptive list as it's fairly personalized; however, if there's anything helpful within these thoughts, I'm sure there may be others in the same boat!

4 Things I Do (or try to)

1. I'm aware of trends, but ultimately, I tend to post whatever and whenever I want. I want to keep social media as a fun and lighthearted hobby. I don't have personal metrics or goals that I need to reach (what a difference from work!). My philosophy is that if something works, that's great. If it doesn't, I'll know for next time.
2. I'm happy to try new things for the sake of learning, but I am also content to stick with what's comfortable for me. For instance, creating reels can be fun but they're more of a stretch for me when I don't tend to film content. I also don't love Instagram's reels editor, so rather than spending hours fiddling with book trailers, I'll leave those with the experts.
3. I'm on social media for genuine engagement, not for the sake or expectation of reciprocity. I want to sincerely celebrate accomplishments and milestones, and to cheer people on wherever I can. I love supporting authors and readers, and want to do everything that I can to be a blessing when I'm online.
4. I'm grateful that I can take things slow and steady; it's not a race where I need to achieve anything grand. I would rather have meaningful connections than a multitude of them. I think it's fine to go back to a culture of taking things easy and having things happen organically. This is something I do on the side because I love it (so far).

4 Things I Don't Do

1. I don't often use CTAs (Calls to Action). I'm aware that it's a communications strategy, but I personally cringe when I see it. I understand the rationale behind it where people should be directed toward a next step after seeing content, but I've always felt that people can figure it out. Hence, no CTAs in my content.
2. I don't have a strategy to gain new followers. Actually, I'm more concerned that I don't lose the people that have taken the time to follow me (unless you're a bot, I suppose!). I want to continue being trustworthy in what I share, and be a bit of a different voice out there. I'm glad to support the accounts that have huge followings, but I'm also thankful to be where I am.
3. I don't want to consciously feed into consumerism. I might post something funny about buying books every once in a while, but I don't want to elevate a culture that's predicated on shopping. I've been more aware about not posting book hauls and while I'm immensely grateful that I'm able to buy books to support authors, I need to be mindful of what this can convey.
4. I don't want to compromise on the content I share. I recognize how easy it would be to gain new followers if I were to read more trendy books, or post the best pictures, etc. so I'm naturally nervous about doing anything too popular. It doesn't mean that I'm only a fan of the obscure, but I do appreciate that I don't have the pressure involved in posting specific types of things.

I realize that over time, some of these things may change, especially if they're not convictions. Who knows? Maybe one day, I'll be that account that tells you to like, subscribe, etc. (although that seems pretty unlikely to me), but for now, I'm hoping that these parameters help me from becoming addicted to social media or reliant on it in an unhealthy way. My hope is that I can have longevity, so I need to do what I can to make it a marathon, as opposed to a sprint.

It's nice to be able to continually evaluate progress and seek improvement, so I suppose that means that my blog and social media will keep growing as I do!