On January 19, I decided to conduct an experiment. I knew I needed a break. My habitual use of social media was ravaging my free time and negatively altering my perception of myself. I felt like I couldn’t interact with it in a healthy, meaningful way and I just needed a break. So I quit, cold turkey, for a week. During this social media detox I decided to carve out some time to sit down and figure out what my new relationship status with social media would be. I learned some interesting things during the detox and I’d like to share some of that with you.

Step 1: Identify pros and cons

I’d known for a long time that I both loved and hated social media. So the first thing I did was made a list. One one side, an angel: this would reflect all the things I liked about social media. On the other side, a devil: this would reflect all the things I despised or things that made me feel bad.

Here’s a partial list:

• seeing friends’ photos
• learning new things about training, hiking, etc.
• interacting with people all over the world
• finding local events
• supporting and reviewing local businesses
• organizing groups
• sharing news, blogs, photos and videos

• getting sucked in and wasting lots of time
• that fear of missing out
• waiting and hoping for “likes”
• feeling hopeless about humanity
• getting involved in online drama
• feeling like being the loser in a popularity contest
• comparing myself to others

Sorting out the good from the bad was easy. But how would I still extract value out of social media without letting it drag me down to the dumps? Besides, it would be horrible for my business if I just disappeared completely. I had to find a strategy that would help me be present online, get all those good things and avoid the bad ones.

Step 2: List possible solutions

The next stage involved brainstorming any ideas to help solve my problem. No idea too stupid, crazy, or impossible. All ideas got thrown on the table. Think now, research details later.

From my notes:

1. use social media for business only
2. unfriend/unfollow the people that didn’t add value to my online experience
3. block FB website on my phone
4. plan a weekly/monthly social sharing calendar
5. avoid mindless scrolling online
6. need an app that gives me the daily top ten updates so I can just see highlights

The list was much longer, but you get the idea.

Step 3: Evaluate solutions

Here I stepped back, looked at the list and determined which ones were feasible. For example, #1 would limit my use to business only. This looks good on paper but I know I wouldn’t be happy with this. I like engaging with my friends online and Facebook is often the only place they share photos of their adventures. It’s where I get to share my adventures with friends, too. So while this strategy wasn’t the answer for me, it did help me think about how I can optimize my time so that I can quickly share business-related information while still allotting some time for my personal life.

That fed right into #4, planning a social sharing calendar. I’d heard this advice several times and now I was committed to put it into action. Yes, I’d plan my sharing a week in advance and schedule it all at once so I could minimize my time online.

I knew #5 was a key reason for my negativity about social media but I wasn’t sure how best to address it. Psychologically it is nearly impossible to commit to “stop doing a thing.” I needed strategies to help me do that instead. So, #3 was a good option. I researched productivity apps and found a few that I could install on my phone and laptop to block my social media feeds during any schedule I decided to set.

As for #6, does that exist? I would love a daily social media digest that shares only a handful of key things that I’d like to see from my friends. I’m not sure how that digest would be curated, but then again I’m not an app developer. If this has been done, let me know. If not, someone please get on that.

Step 4: Make an action plan

After evaluating my options I decided to make a 5-step action plan that included the simplest and most effective ideas from my list. Here’s the plan:

1. Install StayFocusd Chrome Extension and BlockApps on phone.
2. Limit social media access to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening.
3. Plan, write and schedule business-related social media updates every week.
4. Unfollow profiles that fit my “dislikes.”
5. Re-evaluate action plan in one month.

In less than a week I was able to re-engineer my relationship with social media using this strategy. Time will tell if this strategy will stick. I’ve already accomplished the first three steps. I’ll get to number four once I lift my cold turkey social media ban. I’m actually not looking forward to getting on Facebook again, but hopefully I’ll find a way to use it as a tool to stay in touch with people in my personal and professional life without letting it drag me down into a hole of despair.

As a bonus, my search for productivity apps led me to a world of interesting websites and apps designed to gamify the habit-building process. I’ve been experimenting with those and once I feel confident reviewing and sharing what I’ve learned I’ll craft another post.