Why Social Breaks Are Great For Sustainability and Your Mental Health

Social media can be overwhelming. As someone who works with social media for jobs or positions, it's easy to feel the burnout pretty quickly without separating your work/hobby from your everyday life. It's important to take the time you need to break from social when you do feel overwhelmed or stressed as it can provide a happier path to the sustainability of your account as well as refresher for your mental health.

Saying you can just take a break is easier said than done, especially if your account focuses on activism or if you're an account with a large following. Personally for me, I find it hard to break because I feel like I'm letting people down. That instead of providing useful information on sustainability and the climate crisis, I'm MIA. That was a mental hump that I had to get over while I went on a short vacation just last week. If you're like me and you have that similar feeling, just know that your mental health is in need of a break. Without some disruption, your ideas for social content might not be at sharp, you might feel unimaginative and it will be harder to provide sustainable content for weeks to come.

So you've read all the above and realize that a break is exactly what you need. Here are just a few tips on different styles of breaks you can take, depending on if your work from social media is voluntary or if it's for work/school.

• Set down your phone or computer for one day to a few weeks (Social Media as a Hobby) - If you're using social media as a hobby, feel free to step away from checking your accounts for as long as you need. No - you will not be letting anyone down but I would recommend letting your followers know that you'll be gone for a nice mental health break. Believe me, they will completely understand and you may even encourage them to do the same.

• Separating social media from your work / home (Social Media for work or as a hobby for those who find it hard to take long breaks or have high social followings) - Again, breaks are easier to say out loud rather than actually do them, especially if social media is your work. If you find this to be you, set out a time in your day to work on social with small breaks in between. Once you're "done with work", completely disconnect yourself from social by either putting your phone or laptop away and focusing on other hobbies like exercise, reading a book or watching a show or if you have a seperate room, physically divide yourself by working in one room and moving to another when you're done.

• Creating a schedule on when content will be posted (Social Media as a Hobby or if you have lenient work/school) - If you find it almost impossible to just get away or separate work from life, try to schedule your content with a day or two break in between. This creates a natural pause allowing you to either catch up on future content ideas, comments and engagement or to step away even for a few short hours. You could also schedule this to give yourself breaks on the weekend while posting throughout the week days.

Whatever reason you might need for a break, no matter how long you can take one, know that your personal mental health should always come first.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash