We’re a technology-driven society and we’re also social, making social media the perfect platform for people to connect and engage. Until things get ugly, that is.
Are your social media feeds filled with politics and arguments instead of happy life events and polite adult discussions? If so, it may be time to do a little spring cleaning:
- Stop engaging. Today’s social media activists don’t want to be argued with. If you disagree but aren’t close with a person, consider deleting the individual in question. The alternative is to hide the offending posts, but only if that isn’t going to be an everyday thing.
- Avoid people who have absolutely nothing to talk about but politics, religion, and scandal. You can get plenty of drama in the offline world.
- Clean house. Scan your friend or follower lists and remove people you never see online or with whom you never, ever speak. You are not obligated to have a social connection with old acquaintances, co-workers, or people from your distant past.
- Check for people and pages you aren’t familiar with just in case you were friended by fake accounts or ended up liking pages because of apps or games.
- Create lists of people you know are capable of polite adult conversation and limit your more
- Check your privacy settings to be sure only your friends can see the things you post. Public posts leave you exposed to people you don’t know. Even Twitter and Instagram allow you to set your profiles to private.
- Create a social strategy and know your purpose. If you’re online to stay connected with family, make sure you’re connecting with them. If you’re running a business, dedicate your time to business tasks instead of to cat memes.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that social media is a tool you can use to stay in touch with people. You don’t need to be connected 24/7 to stay in touch or live your life.
