Reclaim Your Time By Re-evaluating Your Relationship With Social Media!
Today we’re taking a sharp, discerning eye to one of the biggest time wasters of all time and that is social media. You are the judge, jury, and executioner of your relationships with social media platforms; are they justifying their existence and use of your time, or do they deserve to walk the plank?
While promoting my content, I’ve had to do something I really don’t enjoy doing, and that’s using social media. It’s not something that comes naturally and I view it as a means to an end at best, a complete waste of time, or a malignant, soul-crushing, mind control scheme at worst. I made a firm choice in 2003 not to use social media after being chased down the street in Manhattan by a lunatic who was apoplectically enraged at me for not accepting her friend request on either friendster or myspace, I can’t remember which at this late stage. It was at that moment when I was running full tilt into the oncoming traffic of 8th avenue, away from this perplexingly entitled and aggressively pushy individual that I knew for sure that social media was not for me and that I would not besmirch the purity of my mind and spirit with my presence there.
Many years later the world had moved onto the digital sphere and I was left behind like the luddite that I was. I don’t have any regrets on a personal level for eschewing social media, funny enough I’m still close friends with all of the people I did love and hold dear back in 2003, and I’ve made so many more wonderful dear friends since then. When I was working for other people I simply avoided social media and digital marketing and stayed in my lane of design. Since I wasn’t on social media, I wasn’t seeing the finished product or learning as the space evolved. In hindsight I also realize how much I took for granted having so many experts in so many fields to ask questions to in my social circle. Moving to California was the first time where I felt alone and left to figure things out on my own. Learning social media and internet marketing from scratch was a very difficult learning curve, and how I wished I hadn’t tuned out of those cocktail conversations when they turned to building a website, social media branding, and video content creation, back in New York.
But and however, there I was, staring at the palm trees and the mountains outside my window trying to figure out how to use social media on the most basic level for the first time, create a digital brand across all platforms, and promote my projects. Thankfully I had a massive amount of help from my friends via texts, phone calls, emails, and many trips back to New York that got me to a polished end product. How I wish I had learned earlier, because I would have been able to promote and gain traction for projects of mine so much better. I made the mistake of being too closed off, and the root of that is that I was using black and white, all or nothing thinking. I pictured the internet and social media as this giant open void, where you exposed everything or nothing. At that point I didn’t yet have the fine-tuned sense of discernment to see that it’s up to you what you share with the world, and there’s so much value in sharing your viewpoints out into the world.
At one point in 2019 I felt a completely new and horrible feeling of depression. I had thrown myself into promoting my projects online and on social media and I was spending hours a day learning how to make really good social media content. Part of that though was looking at other people’s content in order to see what was getting traction, and to have some sort of template as a starting point. Even though I was living what at the time would be a dream lifestyle for most people, having that window into all of those perfect forced smiles and over the top luxury made me feel terrible. I disengaged for a while and I realized that worse than submerging me in a depression, all the time I spent doing my social media marketing had derailed and replaced the progress I was making on a long term project.
I really struggled to reengage with that long-term project and I felt a sense of numb despondency, and a marked decline in my focus and attention. One day I remember sitting in the dining room that I had turned into an office, and started scrolling through a social media feed. I saw post after post, going back for months, and sure I had engagement, traction, revenue from that effort, but what I didn’t have was a substantial, finished product to present the world like I had intended. Instead I had all of these small social media posts, but over the course of months the amount of time it had taken to produce those was huge, and it was a slippery slope that I descended into unconsciously. Social media and digital content certainly have their point as a way of sharing information and promoting yourself, but I vowed then, to never let it become such a time consuming endeavor that other more important things wither on the vine, just to keep social media feeds full. It’s true that content is king and you have to put out social media content of some kind if you want to promote yourself, but be incredibly intentional and strict about not spending a large amount of time doing it.
The most valuable commodity we possess is our time, don’t fritter away your greatest asset on low value tasks like social media. Better yet, if it’s in your budget, pay someone else to promote your projects on social media and reclaim your time for more important things. I would have been much better off doing that back in those days. Now I’ve finally found a formula that works for me which is spending only a small amount of time each day promoting my content, and only using social media networks and platforms that align with my values, and are user friendly. Some days I use a timer and set a specific amount of time to spend promoting whatever project I have going at the time, and I choose what platforms to post on first based on their importance. And if some of the platforms lower on the list don’t get posted on each day that’s just fine. You need to guard your time even more closely than you guard your money, so this year make an extreme effort not to get distracted and unfocused, and then led down the rabbit hole of social media and the internet, when you have so many more important or better yet fun things to do with your time.
Taking social media breaks is also so important because we all need to reengage with the real world as much as possible. Don’t let your real life relationships wither away while you spend time on social media. I always say that one of the most motivating things to do is to picture your life as a silent film and just imagine what that would look like. Envisage what you look like when you have your nose buried in your phone and you’re endlessly scrolling social media feeds for hours. If you were a person teleported from a hundred years ago they would think there was something wrong with you. There are so many important things to do every day and many of them are just the mundane tasks of everyday living like folding laundry and vacuuming floors.
How to Discern & Disengage - Fast & Easy:
So now I suggest that you make a list of all of the social media platforms that you regularly use, if you have some that you have accounts for but never use don’t worry about those. I always love using pen and paper because of the increased connection in the mind with what you are writing about, but as always any method that works for you is great. List next to each platform how much time you spend on each one each day, you can usually see the exact answer in your phone. Then, critically discern what benefit you are getting from each of those platforms compared to the fleeting time of your life that you are spending on them. As long as you’re happy with what you’re getting for the time spent, that’s fine, but when you add all of that time up over the course of months and years, you could be writing a novel, or doing on online degree. Social media should be used for those moments when we’re waiting for an appointment, or stuck in an airport lounge waiting on a flight, not for the prime, useful minutes that we can use for so many better things. Even just cleaning your house, doing your laundry, exercising, or even just napping, are better uses of your time.
This year, really be discerning with your time, attention, and your energy. All of those things are simply too precious and important to waste on something with such a low return on investment as social media. I always suggest controlling everything in your environment to the highest degree, and this is one of the easiest things of all to control because it’s you and your choice. If you want to test drive this theory, set a timer for an hour and just indulge in social media and then write a line or two describing how you feel. Then set a timer for an hour and take a walk, exercise, or do some sort of physical task that doesn’t involve any tech, then compare the feeling you get between the two. After an hour of social media you probably feel heavy, numb, despondent, maybe scared, probably a little achy for being sedentary for so long when your body was evolved to be moving. After an hour of physical movement, you probably feel energized, feel the depression and anxiety lift, you feel a nice uplifting endorphin and dopamine rush, your digestion probably feels better because you’ve been moving around. The difference is clear!
A lot of people are brainwashed from childhood to believe that it’s selfish to put yourself first, and it’s always so funny to me that most of the people who preach that never hesitate to look out for themselves before others. We can’t serve from an empty vessel, it’s simply impossible, so for you to be able to care for those that you love most, and to make the greatest positive impact on the world, you need to make sure your best interest is put first and your needs are met, before you can bless and uplift others around you. It’s not selfish to take care of yourself, that’s simply an incredibly pernicious manipulation tool that’s been used against you, don’t fall for it this year or ever again.
So to recap my advice so far this year, take a digital detox/ break from social media and the internet, have a good solid routine every day to set yourself up for success daily, and take a keen, critical eye to your value proposition with each and every social media platform you spend your most valuable resource on and that’s your time.
All the best,
William Z. Brennan, creator of Natural Lifestyle Optimization
Delve Into The World Of Natural Lifestyle Optimization On Medium:
Be Happier, Healthier & Get So Much More Done With Routines & Social Media Breaks In 2025!
https://medium.com/@naturallifestyleoptimization/be-happier-healthier-get-so-much-more-done-with-routines-social-media-breaks-in-2025-5e575f6db416
2025 New Year Inspirational Message: Embrace the Power Of Routines & Social Media Breaks This Year!
https://medium.com/@naturallifestyleoptimization/2025-new-year-inspirational-message-embrace-the-power-of-routines-social-media-breaks-this-year-35d6d71f9aad
How To Get Through the Holiday Season With Your Mind, Body & Spirit Intact — this might be your most enjoyable holiday season yet!
https://medium.com/@naturallifestyleoptimization/how-to-get-through-the-holiday-season-with-your-mind-body-spirit-intact-this-might-be-your-ef95f42238bc
Natural Lifestyle Optimization: We Need You More Than Ever:
https://medium.com/@naturallifestyleoptimization/natural-lifestyle-optimization-we-need-you-more-than-ever-5e6515ed4707
Let’s Connect & Get Social!
Natural Lifestyle Optimization
Web: https://desertmountainapothecary.com/blogs/blog/tagged/natural-lifestyle-optimization
Medium: https://medium.com/@naturallifestyleoptimization
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/naturallifeopt.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@NaturalLifestyleOptimization
Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/NaturalLifestyleOpt
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/naturallifestyleoptimization/
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/naturallifestyleoptimization
Join Me On A Journey Of Discovery To The World Of Desert Mountain Apothecary!
Torrey Pines – La Jolla, California – San Diego Pacific Ocean Beach Adventure!
The sun is out and the surf is up, so let’s hit my favorite stretch of coastline under the towering cliffs of Torrey Pines in the gem of the San Diego coastline: La Jolla, California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLyySza85jA
Please Enjoy Anza Borrego Desert Wildflower Superbloom – We had the most incredible wildflower superbloom in the California Desert this past year, join me from the beginning of the cold winter through the waves of dazzling blooms to the searing hot end of the season.