Four Lessons From My Social Media Break

 Four Lessons From My Social Media Break

In the last week of September 2022, My mobile phone fell down and stopped working. All efforts to repair it were futile and that made it difficult for me to use social media. Though I had an alternative device that can still give me visibility online, I made a commitment to go on a compulsory break away from the social media space.

A few days ago, I decided to return to the social media space, and here are the lessons that I learned from the compulsory social media break:

Firstly, as a broadcast Journalist and an online news editor, I struggled to keep pace with happenings locally and internationally. Ordinarily, with a click on the social media platforms that I use, I will be able to access a plethora of information that usually inundates the social media space but because I logged out of the social media space, gathering information becomes a challenging exercise.

Secondly, I lost connection with vital information from the network of people or groups that I belong to. For instance, I had to rely on word of mouth to get information from colleagues, church members, friends, and family members. I also missed some opportunities to write articles and news stories for some interested persons and groups because I wasn't available online and some of these people don't have my phone number. This, for me, was a major blow for taking the break because writing for these people would have come with some "dividends of naira" to shop for the family, especially in a season when rice has suddenly turned to gold. But because I was off the social media space, I missed the opportunity.

Thirdly, I spent more on making calls during my social media break. Messages that could have been sent via social media networking sites became messages that I had to send by calling those concerned. And on so many occasions, the network by the service providers was so terrible that making calls became a problem thereby slowing down the dissemination of information.

Finally,  I learned that you don't have to be a celebrity before you can influence people positively. During my social media break, 

I never knew that some people follow some of my social media posts. In fact, some of these people neither like nor comment on my posts, yet they take cognizance of my posts. These persons reached out to me after observing my long departure from the social media space. The lesson here is that we all have influence in one way or the other. We all carry a measure of a deposit of grace inside of us. No hand is empty, we all have a modicum of influence.

The lessons I learned from my absence on the social media platforms are numerous but the ones discussed are key among the lessons. While some people have argued that social media can be a distraction, I am of the opinion that setting one's priority on how to use social media is the key to overcoming the possibility of getting distracted from other assignments. 

Thanks for reading my post