The Learning Curve | Year-End Reflection: Navigating Social Media Mindfully
As you approach the end of the year and hopefully some time off from work, there is a chance you'll spend more time on your phone during this downtime. So as a reminder:
Feeling triggered? This post is for you.
At a glance:
Social media "pruning"
Your social media wishlist
Social media "pruning"
Ok, but it's not all bad.
While social media has its drawbacks, with some fine-tuning, you can transform it into a source of entertainment, inspiration, and education. Take control of your social media by unfollowing, muting, or hiding contacts. It's time to curate your digital space for a healthier online experience.
Here are my constantly evolving criteria:
Pruning social media - questions to ask yourself
Is this content I want to see when I open this app?
Does this account appear in my feed more than I'd like?
Am I following this account for a reason other than personal interest/information/inspiration/education?
If none of the above, what are the consequences for unfollowing? Is it worth it, or am I better off muting the account?
5 defenses against the algorithms
As the year comes to an end, the avalanche of trends for the upcoming year can be overwhelming.
That's why I want to share this video with you. Karen X Cheng is an award-winning creative director with over 500 million video views, named to Inc’s 30 Under 30 and Adweek’s Creative 100. Here she shares her personal experience of how toxic posting for the sake of the algorithm is, and how to be more human at a time when we're surrounded by AI tools.
Karen X Cheng's 5 defenses:
1 for me, and 1 for the algorithm. Find the balance between promoting your work and expressing yourself authentically. "If you create content based on the fear of losing followers, you may end up losing yourself"
Be proud of your flops. Redefine success for yourself, and don't let the algorithm dictate it. Learn and grow from every experience.
Seek respect, not attention. It lasts longer - Zlad K. Abdelnour. Put more effort into creating things that you respect instead of constantly clamoring for attention.
Human + AI is better than just AI. View AI tools as instruments to be played well or poorly, not as replacements for humans.
Put away screens on Saturdays. Boredom is a catalyst for creativity. Give your brain the space it needs to breathe and think original thoughts.
Your social media wishlist
In the interest of steering away from the end-of-year "social media trends" pdfs, and not spending valuable energy trying to understand the algorithm, I put together a little list of what I want to see more of on social media, and what I want to see less of.
MORE:
Imperfect, raw, vulnerable content
Sharing secrets to success, and lessons learned from mistakes. No more gatekeeping.
More collaboration and less competition. Build bridges, not walls.
Posting to seek respect, not attention.
LESS:
Out-of-touch managers and directors who have never hit "post" in their lives signing off on content. Top-down strategies out.
Product photography. People are not coming to social media to be sold to.
Timestamps on posts. Quality content to be shown above new content.
Status-signaling cringe posts without valuable insights like: "We had a meeting from someone in a suit" without telling us what conclusions you came to. "I went to this conference. Here are some photos of a stage" without telling us what you learned.
We came up with this list with fellow learner Jon Wilson.
This is a little test to see how far these newsletters resonate with you, my subscribers.
Create your own list, make it public, tag me, and let's collectively shape what we want to see more of.
Conclusion:
If you got this far, thank you.
Today, we explored criteria and defenses to create a happier, distraction-free digital space.
Wishing you a joyful holiday season filled with meaningful moments with loved ones.
This marks the last newsletter of the year. I'll be back in January after taking some time for reflection and quality family time.
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