It's New Year's Eve 2020. This year (and what a year) is almost done. Tomorrow we start over with the start of 2021!

Control key from a computer keyboard

One thing I wanted to talk about as we finish up 2020 is 'taking control', specifically with social media.

It is easy to coast, to be just a passive consumer. I know I often find myself doing it. But I think that can be risky. One day you discover you're completely swamped, maybe even drowning with all this stuff. That's not good!

Social media is a tool. It can be great - keeping in touch with friends and conversing with people you might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet in real life. But it can also be misused and be a negative, destructive influence. Not to mention the agendas and commercial of the social media platforms themselves. Remember nothing is free. There's always a cost. Someone always ends up paying.

Be deliberate

Be intentional about what you're sharing and what you're consuming. I know it's easy to just post whatever comes to mind. Maybe before you hit Post, take 5 minutes, then come back and review it with fresh eyes. Do I really need to post this? Is this constructive, helpful, building people up? Great! No? Maybe there's a better way to express yourself. Are you (or your current/future employer) going to be comfortable re-reading this in a few months or years?

Be careful

Do you really want to share your location/GPS coordinates? Most platforms do a good job of stripping these from photo uploads, but I know with my own blog I need to do that manually.

Are friends ok with being tagged or shared in a photo?

Delete

Is a particular social platform causing you stress? Deleting your profile (or even just taking a break for a few days) might be helpful. If you do choose to delete, it might be worth downloading all your data first.

Remember, this is social media - not real life! Real friendship exists beyond any particular technology platform.

Block

Sometimes you follow or friend someone who turns out to be a bit of a 'froot loop'. There's no rule to say you have to keep following or stay connected. Delete the connection. If they're pestering you, block them.

Mute

Maybe they're not a complete froot loop, but going through an odd phase. Many social platforms allow you to mute someone. You can still stay connected, but you won't see their posts.

Filter

Some platforms allow you to define keywords that you want to exclude from your news feed. If there's words you find offensive or topics you don't care about, use this feature.

 

Take control. Make healthy choices. Stay safe. Happy New Year and all the best for 2021!🙂🎆🧨🎇