{"id":3324,"date":"2024-02-06T21:12:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T21:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powerofplanning.co.uk\/?p=3324"},"modified":"2024-02-06T21:12:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T21:12:18","slug":"social-media-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powerofplanning.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/02\/06\/social-media-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Steps to Beat Your Social Media Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Social Media Trap<\/h3>\n

Having started the power of planning about 6 months ago, I recently found myself wanting to reach a wider audience. One of the first ways I could think of to achieve this (other than general Google SEO work for the website) was social media. Primarily Instagram<\/a>, as it was the platform I was most familiar with.<\/p>\n

This meant finding a way to regularly post valuable content without eating up too much of my time. At first, I outsourced this. You may see the first 20 posts on my account look very different to the next 20. However, I wasn\u2019t entirely happy with the content. It wasn\u2019t \u2018valuable\u2019, it was instead generic and forgettable (despite looking good). So, I decided to start creating content myself. I got a Canva subscription and got to work, utilising Instagram templates and stock videos to get information that I have personally found hugely beneficial to my own time management and organisational skillset.<\/p>\n

I now feel the information out there is more actionable and useful for anyone who consumes it. But\u2026<\/p>\n

This whole process started to have a negative impact on me. It wasn\u2019t the extra time it took me to create the posts myself. Most of that, honestly, is quite repeatable and I already have a fair few ideas on how I can start to automate it (Chat GPT is one of my biggest allies).<\/p>\n

Having not been a consumer of social media at all in the past, (I\u2019ve never had Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook apps) I had avoided falling into the social media trap. The endless scrolling and dopamine binges. However, now I \u201chad to\u201d have the Instagram app. For \u201cwork\u201d. For \u201cmarket research\u201d. To check my follower count, and my progress. I was seeing more and more of my time being eaten up by the algorithm.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d go on with the intention to check if I had any comments or followers or to boost a post with an ad and then 20 minutes later I would emerge wondering what had happened.<\/p>\n

It was not nice. I also had a weird obsession with the amount of followers I had. I was checking maybe once every 30 minutes. This was my biggest problem as every time I went on, I\u2019d get sucked in by the algorithm again. Checking my followers did nothing for me \u2013 it just caused me problems.<\/p>\n

How to fix it?<\/h3>\n

\"social<\/p>\n

Over time my urge to check my followers dwindled and the novelty of starting my new Instagram account wore off. Luckily for me, I do think that I am one of those people who get bored of social media quickly. I get hooked in and bored in just as quick a time. I will still keep up my regular schedule of posting what I hope is valuable and helpful content relating to time management.<\/p>\n

There are still issues though. I still waste a considerable amount of time scrolling, checking my followers, and getting hooked. Amazingly my screen time hasn\u2019t gone up too much on my phone. In the weeks before I started creating my own content my screen time was on average 2h 30 \/day. This went up to 3h 30 \/ day. But the most worrying issue was the productive things I had been doing on my phone were now being eaten up by my hours on Instagram. I was spending 1h 13 minutes per day on Instagram and TikTok combined. Probably about 40 minutes more than I would like.<\/p>\n

So how do you create content on social media regularly without getting hooked into the algorithm and wasting your time?<\/p>\n