So Vanessa wrote an open letter to us last week, warning us about social media fatigue and urged us to disconnect for while whenever possible. I could not agree more on the timely manner of the message considering that we had all been pretty much intensely immersed in social media and other related tools for the past three weeks of this course.
Being a good student, I took the advice and it seems to work wonders! I now feel more energetic and ready to roll for the final part of this course. Along the process, I also read some articles on how people cope with such fatigue. One such article (refer to source below) asked a crucial question if social media fatigue is really about fatigue, or should we start referring to it as social media fear or disappointment. This is rather interesting as we all have FOMO (Fear of missing out) moments in our lives, and some of us unintentionally extend that fear to the social media platform. Therefore, the idea that social media does not cause fatigue, but an emotional reaction about fear and disappointment, might actually hold some truth. So from this perspective, I will like to share 5 quick tips on how we can deal with it:
1) Be reasonable with our own expectations - There are just too may tools for us to explore, too many interesting articles to read, too many exciting and fun stuff to do in this course, BUT TOO LITTLE TIME TO DO ALL. Hence, be very clear on how much time we have to do the necessary work each week; manage that expectation, then pick and choose on what you can do.
2) Plan, plan, plan - From my own experience in the last three weeks, planning really helps! You do not need to feel "forced" to be social media every single day. Plan for it, follow the schedule, log in, post the work, log off, and you are done!
3) Track, track, track - Track what you have done for the week! All of us feel compelled to keep plugging at social media and the tools because we are unclear of how much we had done, hence the anxiety arrives at the end of the week which inadvertently forces us to overwork. Vanessa's weekly checklist is a great tool to begin with! Or less formulate your own preferred one each week.
4) Don't compete with others - There is always that classmate who has more time (hence more presence online) than others! So do not feel pressurized to post more than you can manage, but rather post within your means (time!) and of course also when the inspiration comes. Understand your own value and contributions that you bring to the class, and you will feel less stressed about it.
5) Explore beyond the list - The list of tools given to us for tryout may be pretty long each week, but there is nothing to stop us from exploring outside this list if we want to. Take a different approach by trying out a different tool that no one has heard before, blog about it, share it with the class, and you will feel a lot more energized just be doing that!
Source: http://outspokenmedia.com/social-media/the-secret-to-social-media-fatigue/
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