Ed Tech Fitness

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social media

Puppy vs. AI – Puppy Wins!

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This morning I published a Tweet about AI and a Tweet containing a picture of my puppy. I did it mostly for fun but also to see if just mentioning AI would get a Tweet more attention than others. The results are in.

In the battle of Puppy vs. AI, puppy wins!

My puppy Tweet got 2,048 impressions and 55 likes in five hours. My AI Tweet got 1,081 impressions and 8 likes in the same time span.

Admittedly, this was a complete unscientific study. I hope it brings you a little joy on a Friday afternoon. It certainly brought me some joy.

It’s Not You, It’s Me – My Slow Breakup With Social Media

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A couple of years ago I read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism and started to give more thought to how I use social media. Specifically, I started to pay more attention to how social media posts made me feel. What I discovered is that with the exception of Twitter, I like consuming social media for fun and not for work.

The Slow Unfollowing

Once I realized how Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn posts made me feel, I started to unfollow or hide accounts that provoked feelings of anxiety and or annoyance. Some examples of these are accounts that just post “inspirational” quotes, “humble brags,” and thinly veiled multilevel marketing posts (I’m looking at you, person who hasn’t spoken to me since high school and suddenly wants to help me improve my life).

The only social media apps that I have installed on my phone today are Instagram and Strava. And it could be argued that Strava doesn’t qualify as social media.

I only use Facebook on my laptop twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I’ll visit LinkedIn and Twitter during my work day on my desktop or laptop, but I don’t check it outside of work hours. Snapchat and TikTok are not platforms that I’ve ever been active on except to try them out and to vet potential nannies for my children.

Unfollowing all of the accounts that induced feelings of anxiety or annoyance has made it possible for me to enjoy using Instagram and Facebook to keep up with my friends. On Facebook I only have friends that I would actually hangout with in real life.

The Twitter Exception

I’ve been on Twitter for 15 years and don’t plan on leaving it any time soon. I still use it to keep up with trends in the educational technology space. That’s exactly how I started using it. What’s different today is that I don’t check it outside of work hours. I don’t do Twitter chats because those have always made me feel like it was a competition to get a word in.

How Do I Keep Up?

For my professional life, believe it or not, I still use an RSS reader to read a lot of blogs and websites. I also subscribe to some newsletters that get delivered to my inbox on a regular, weekly interval. I’m also in the fortunate/ unfortunate position of being on the mailing lists for a bunch of PR firms that send/spam me with announcements.

In my personal life, I seek out information about the things I care about. I’m a member of a couple of message board communities about cycling, fly fishing, and Boston sports teams.

Try It…or Don’t

I hate virtue signaling posts so I’ll just say that if you find yourself feeling anxious or annoyed by social media, start unfollowing accounts that make you feel that way even if it is that “friend” from high school who recently friended you. Or don’t. What do I know? I’m just a 40-something man who likes to ride bikes, go fishing, and post pictures of those things on Instagram.

5 Signs It’s Time for a Break from Social Media

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This week’s Ed Tech Fitness challenge was to try going on a social media diet. In other words, cut back or cut out the time you spend on the social media site(s) that sucks time out of your day while not giving you anything positive.

I’ve almost entirely avoided for Facebook a month, and I feel better. Next I’ll be cutting back on my time on Twitter. It took a long time for me to get to place where I was ready/ needed to cut back. Based entirely on my own experience, here are some signs that you might be ready for a break from social media.

You’re annoyed rather than entertained.

From friends sharing “free ticket” scams to pithy inspiration memes to political posts, I found that my reaction to most of the things I saw was annoyance rather than entertainment.

You’re making too many comparisons.

We all carefully select the picture, video, or words that we post online to show the best parts of our lives. If you’re having a tough day, week, month, year and all you keep looking at are pictures of things that look like more fun than you’re having, it gets depressing really quickly.

Perhaps looking at pictures of people having fun is inspirational for you. If so, go for it. For me and many others it’s just a depressing comparison that’s easy to quit making when you stop either following those accounts or quit looking at social media all together.

You’re not reading because you’re scrolling.

Do you know how hard it is to take a paperback book with you to read while you’re in your doctor’s waiting room? It’s not! I found there were lots of times when I could have been reading a book instead of scrolling through annoying Facebook posts or pithy memes on Twitter.

You’re looking at your phone instead of the beauty around you.

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the country. Heck, our state nickname is Vacationland! I was sitting in my backyard on a beautiful summer evening and looking at my phone instead of enjoying the sunset. What a waste!

You think about the social media post instead of the actual experience.

When you find yourself thinking about an experience through the lens of “how will I share this online?” before just experiencing it, it might be time to ask if you have a social media addiction.

Ed Tech Fitness Challenge – Social Media Dieting

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It feels like fall here in Maine. It has been in the 40’s (Fahrenheit) every morning since Thursday. That meant I had to move my Saturday morning bike ride to the afternoon where I got to enjoy some nice views over Streaked Mountain. And on my Friday afternoon ride I found The Yeti (see picture below). That was the highlight of my fitness this weekend. What was your highlight?

Yeti crossing road sign.

Challenge of the Week

This week’s challenge is one that I’ve been doing for a few weeks. That is challenge is social media fasting. In August I noticed that I was spending way too much time on Facebook. Not only was it a waste of time, it was contributing to making me melancholy. So I decided to go on a social media diet. In the time since I started doing this I’ve found that have fewer fluctuations in my mood during the day and I’m getting things done more quickly because I’m not “just checking Facebook for a minute.”

The challenge this week is to cut back on the time you spend on the social media site that sucks time out of your day. That could be Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or something else that you find yourself wasting time using. I’ve been able to curtail my Facebook use by doing two things; removing the app from my phone and using the Stay Focusd Chrome extension. The extension lets you set limits for how long you can access any site(s) of your choosing. When the limit is reached, you’re blocked for 24 hours.

So this week try a social media diet and see how much time you can get back in your life for other fun things. I’m using that time to read The Naturalist. What will you read or do with more time?

Stickers!

I have five Ed Tech Fitness stickers left. If you want one, just send me your mailing address and I’ll put one in the mail for you this week.