I am so excited to bring you some content today from a close friend of mine Kierstyn Pare. Kierstyn helps emerging entrepreneurs take control of their business and their online presence, so they can achieve the success they want and deserve. With over four years of entrepreneurial experience, Kierstyn brings a lot of passion and knowledge to the table for her clients, spanning the essentials of starting a business, using social media as a tool for success and even building brands that connects with the right target audience. She is also the founder of the Sunny Side of Social, an online learning academy to help you master social media and digital marketing for your business.
Today Kierstyn is going to be sharing with you some ways to help you create a positive online environment for yourself on social media. So, without further delay, please enjoy Kierstyn’s top tips and tricks for taking control of your digital environment.
As a Digital Strategist whose entire career involves spending copious amounts of hours online, there’s no question that I love social media… but I’m also no stranger to the negativity it can bring.
In a world that’s heavily centralized around our ability to be connected digitally, it comes as no surprise there are a lot of mixed feelings about it. We have this incredible ability to be connected to anyone, anywhere, at any time – more connected than we’ve ever been before. Don’t get me wrong… this is a good thing! But if we aren’t careful, it can also do more harm than good.
If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t good enough, smart enough or attractive enough because of something you’ve seen on social media, you might want to consider some of the strategies in this blog post… because guess what?!
The best thing about social media is that you have the power to control it.
1. Remove People/Businesses That Don’t Make You Feel Good
The first step to exercising your control on social media is to do a cleanout of the accounts you follow and the people you’re friends with. A good Spring clean usually involves getting rid of a bunch of garbage and a house that smells like lemons. So light up a lemon scented candle and start hauling the social media garbage out to the road.
You DO NOT have to follow anyone you don’t want to. There is this common misconception that if we know someone IRL, we have to follow them on social media. Let me ask you this… if you meet someone in real life and you don’t get a good vibe from them, what are the odds you’ll ask them to hang out again? Probably pretty slim. So why, if someone’s content on social media doesn’t give you a good vibe, do you continue to let that content fill up your feed?
If you’re seeing content that makes you feel like crap or that makes you question the incredible person you are, hit that unfollow button or mute them and move on with your day. Our brains can only handle so much and quite frankly, you just don’t have space for things in your life that don’t serve you in a positive way.
2. Limit Your Screen Time
The average person spends 4 hours on their mobile device every single day which is approximately 61 days a year! Within those four hours, you scroll approximately 300 feet of social media content.
We’re talking about scrolling through strategically catered ads convincing you to buy things you really don’t need, carefully edited photos that make you insecure, fake news with a click-baity title and a whole lot of negativity. I’m thinking I have to avoid social media altogether during any political campaign period because let’s face it… last month was brutal.
The easiest way to avoid the negativity on social media is to avoid spending time on it altogether. Here are a couple of ways that I’ve done this:
- I started by limiting my social media use in the mornings and before bed. I told myself that for the first and last hour and a half of my day, I wouldn’t touch my phone. To avoid being tempted, I turned off all of my social media notifications.
- After I got myself into a pretty good routine in my mornings and evenings, I decided to create blocks of time throughout the day that I would allow myself to check social media. Now, I check my social media channels at 8:30am, 12:30pm, 4:30pm and 8:30pm.
By implementing these two strategies above, I’ve been able to decrease my overall screen-time by 75%.
3. Be Mindful of the Content You Share
Creating a positive atmosphere on social media is a two way street – if you want to be influenced by positive content, you have to be willing to put out positive content. This one is pretty basic but is also an important one. Put out positive and real content and you’ll find a gravitational pull to that kind of content as well.
I absolutely love social media and I think it’s so incredibly powerful that we have the ability to connect with one another in such a simple way. But like always, with great power comes great responsibility.
If you’re ready to achieve some great success and help shift your mindset to put you on the right track to do so, start implementing some of the strategies above. You’re going to have a whole new appreciation for the social media platforms that have drained your energy in the past.
Thank you so much Kierstyn for sharing your tips on this important topic and I hope that you all found this super valuable. If you want to get in contact with Kierstyn be sure to follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and check out her website to find out more information on her and her services.
QUESTION: HOW WILL YOU USE THESE TIPS TO MAKE YOUR ONLINE SPACE MORE POSITIVE?
If you liked the post make sure to share it with a friend and subscribe to my blog to get email updates every time I post. Also be sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to get more updates from me on my day to day life.
Your trusty, gutsy gal,
Nathalie xx
- Daily Habits and Tips for Self Love
- building a DIY Selfcare Toolkit
- A Vital Mindset Shift To Ease Fear and Anxiety
- Improve Your Medical Care by Expanding Your Health Care Team
- Fun At-Home Activities For When You Can’t Go Out
Gutsy Feeling 