Are you feeling overwhelmed? Maybe even burnt-out ? Post pandemic, burnout has been a topic not only for moms, but working women overall.
I was always a very organized and highly structured person. I was able to attain my master’s degree while married and holding a full-time profession. Not to mention – my husband and I were still newer homeowners that had just survived The Great Recession after the 2008 market crash. All while under 30 years old. Needless to say, I learned how to mean plan and organize my time quite well. But then I discovered Instagram. It began as a quick way to remain connected to family and friends and slowly I started following what soon became to be known as social media influencers. Over the course of the last two years I have begun to reflect plenty on my time spent on this app and most importantly evaluated what I’ve gained from it – which by the way, spoiler alert was nothing really. In an age where we see TikTok evolving, I’m really hesitant to join. I’ll share my top reasons why I’ve “stepped away” from that platform.
Time Spent (or wasted).
I began to notice that I was checking in on the app during lunch breaks, in the evening and even sometimes shortly after I woke up. There was no real purpose other than seeing what others were up to and engaging. After becoming a mother in 2019, I noticed that my time was limited. I worked full time, and I began getting upset at the fact that I didn’t have time to work out, meal plan or follow through with self-care. When I began paying attention to my ineffective habits, I noticed that I was checking my phone device far too often and that I could very well have more time to connect with my family in real-time, squeeze in a workout or just rest. Plus, logging into an app where you are bombarded with ads, MLM’ers, and fashion and beauty content when you have “little time” left in your day just didn’t make sense to me anymore.
Comparison is inevitable.
Seeing beautifully curated feeds began to annoy me. I began muting, unfollowing accounts simply because it was creating feelings of overwhelm. This fed the feeling or idea that you had to work hard to make your surroundings, or even yourself, appear to be the best version of yourself. I knew feeling these things as a new mother could not be well for my own mental health or state of mind and so I began reducing my time on the platform.
Return on investment.
I had to ask myself one question – how was this app improving my life. I had several other apps that were beneficial. A bible reading app, meditation apps, fitness apps – these all helped improve some aspect of my life but that one particular social media platform did not. I will still use it to capture occasional moments or travel stories so I have something to look back at. We often get travel questions from friends so it’s nice to refer back to something that has locations geo-tagged and itinerary timelines. Other than that, my time spent there will be minimal.
While I haven’t left the platform entirely, I really don’t use it to connect anymore. I use it more to catch up on occasional travel pages. I no seldom use it for beauty, style or parenting inspiration. I am leaning more of my time into Pinterest as of late. That along with this little square footage of the internet space that I hold.
xoxo,
The Sun Queen