Tags
Anatomy of an Illness, Elizabeth Fais, Elizabeth S. Craig, Humor, I Love Lucy, Lucy and the Chocolate Factory, Mystery Writing is Murder, Norman Cousins, Social Media
Remembering the “ME” in Social MEdia
If you blog long enough and are active on Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler, and insert-social-media-platforms-here, while still trying to meet your own writing goals, and balance the demands of a full-time job, family, or both… You’re bound to reach a point when the more you do seems to accomplish less and less. Watch for it, because it’s sneaky. And it’s a sure sign of impending burnout.
Burnout can happen to the best. But only if we let it.
Elizabeth S. Craig, wrote a wonderful post (on her Mystery Writing is Murder blog) titled, Doing What We Can. In another post she offers 7 Tips for Controlling Social Media Time.
I’ve found another way to keep the social media craziness in perspective, though. Laugh about it. Nothing provides a better reality check than finding the humor in a stressful situation.
The old adage, “laughter is the best medicine” is true. It worked for Norman Cousins (as described in his book, Anatomy of an Illness) and I’ve found that it works for me too.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done my share of stressing over “doing more” on social media. But the other week I finally realized the frame of mind all that stressing put me in, and it looked a lot like Lucy in the chocolate factory … except without the calories or the silly hats!
So today I invite you to sit back and laugh, chortle, giggle, snicker, and outright guffaw with me at the absurdity of stressing over the social media treadmill by watching the following clip…
Lucy and the Chocolate Factory
What helps you to cope with social media overload?
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Elizabeth Fais 
Elizabeth, I’m fresh back from a self-imposed one-week hiatus from social media. I didn’t tweet or update or comment or like or favourite or share or retweet NUTHIN’. Didn’t post on my own blog, either.
As a result, I spent each morning… w-r-i-t-i-n-g. Weird, how that worked out.
Lucy and Ethel and the mad chocolate assembly line are the perfect analogy. Thanks for the laugh!
Our writing is THE most important thing, and it’s easy to loose sight of that when we’re overwhelmed by chocolate, I mean social media demands (real or self-imposed). I applaud you for taking a week off! I’m going to drop back on my social media interactions while I focus on completing a polish edit of my MS.
When I get overloaded with social media, I retreat from it. I just drop it all because I just can’t deal. When I’m feeling more centered, I come back :). Maybe not the best answer, but sometimes I just have to do it.
That I Love Lucy is one of my all time faves. Thanks for the laugh!
I think taking time off is healthy. It’s all about setting priorities and “doing what we can”.
I have been at a low level of burnout lately and really should take a hiatus like Sherry did, but I haven’t allowed myself to do so. I agree – laughing about and through the stressful times does make a big difference. I think that’s why I keep listening to a certain classy British actor in the Cabin Pressure episodes over and over again. Anything that can make me spontaneously laugh out loud is a good thing.
I also LOVE that I Love Lucy episode. GREAT choice to up the laughter quotient. 🙂
I think it’s important not to let ourselves get so depleted that we go to a place where we lose our sense of humor entirely. I’m speaking from experience here. I nearly slipped into that sink hole. Luckily, the YAppiest trip to Disneyland set me straight again. I think taking a short break can be healthy, but like you, I haven’t allowed myself. I enjoy the blog community and support. I guess I need to be better at finding an equitable balance … and/or going to Disneyland more often. 😉
When I feel the social media overload, I take a few days break from reading blogs (and then read them all in one evening in front of the TV) and stop scrolling back through all the facebook feed. I only recently became able to do the latter — something snapped, and I don’t feel as though I have to see EVERYTHING anymore. But I do check in regularly to FB as an outlet — to see recent posts and notifications. As for twitter, well aside from tweeting occasionally and responding to replies and mentions, I ignore it mainly. I just don’t have the time for that too. And if I need to drop back to posting on my blog once a week, then I do. I try not to force the blog. If I can’t think of anything interesting to write about — or would rather spend my energies writing — then the blog gets skipped.
All wise choices Ellen. I agree with you about blogging only when I have something interesting to share. Otherwise, like you, I think the writing time is better spent on my current MS. With my day-job, I only have time to scan Twitter for a few minutes at the beginning and end of the day. Surprisingly enough, the less I tweet the more followers I get. Hmmm… haven’t quite figured out that dynamic yet. And Facebook? If I don’t watch it, I can get totally sucked in. I mostly just post there, but try to view the WANA112 group posts when I can. I think it’s all about *doing what we can* and giving ourselves the grace for letting that change too.
I keep the social media platforms I use to a minimum – blog, twitter and (lately) Google+, plus a spot of Pinterest though I don’t go there often. The end. I don’t do Facebook or any of the others. That way, I figure, I can do proper justice to the platforms I do use – try to properly interact with the people there, read blog posts and so forth. Rather than being spread thinly across a lot of platforms.
You’re right. It’s all about “picking our battles” or the battle grounds, as the case may be. I agree with your approach of creating and maintaining thoughtful connections with people through social media. Otherwise, it’s meaningless (for all concerned). Blogging on topics that are of interest (to you as well as to others) is something you do well.