I was going to call this piece ‘Pressing Pause’ as I talk about my plans for the summer but then I realised that wasn’t entirely correct.
I’m not intending to press pause on my social media activities over the next few weeks but I will be hitting the mute button on certain channels.
Every year as the schools break up and I stare down the barrel of six (seven) weeks of domestic juggling I take a deep breath and try to assess where I am and what I need to do. Except that this year is different. As my eldest goes to Uni this autumn and his brother will probably follow the year after I find myself in a very different position to previous years.
I have absolutely no truck with the ‘18 Summers’ concept - thankfully that wasn’t a thing when my boys were small and honestly I’m so glad. The idea that you only have 18 summers with your kids and that you should make them as memorable as possible, I think would have been the straw that broke this working mothers back. I vividly remember having to put them in summer camp - which they hated and the overwhelming guilt that I felt about not being able to spend our summer days together. Of course, on the days that I didn’t work and we did things together I was invariably reminded that those #SoBlessed days that appear on social media were generally comprised of 50% sulks and arguments, 25% handing over cash, 10% toilet breaks and only 5% smiles for the camera.
Even so, I am aware that this summer is likely to look and feel different - and with that in mind I’m trying to approach it a little differently.
This is going to be my mantra for the next few weeks.
In the past year my social media use has changed dramatically - I’m spending a lot more time here on Substack and a lot less time on other platforms such as Twitter. And I can feel a definite improvement in my mental health as a result. And recently with the arrival of Threads (the new Meta app) I’ve found myself appreciating social media how it used to be. When it was a little simpler, a little slower and definitely a little quieter.
Logging in to twitter (or should I say X, now) these days feels a lot like being hit in the face with water from a fire hose. Everything comes at you fast, with no time to react or to process and you invariably find yourself sucked into the scroll without making a conscious decision about it - because that’s exactly what these apps are designed to do. They are designed to grab your attention and hold it for as long as possible, by any means possible.
I think that’s partly why I am enjoying Substack so much, and in a slightly different way Threads. On both of these platforms there is so much more opportunity for genuine conversation, sharing moments both big and small, reminding ourselves of who we are and the many, many things that we have in common.
Unlike some apps which seek to divide us and pit us against each other, it genuinely feels as though Substack and Threads are seeking to bring us together. And I feel as though that’s something I want to spend more time doing.
So, this summer I’m not going to be taking a social media break but I am definitely going to be using it more intentionally. For me, that looks like adding in a bit of scheduled content here and there (I’m rarely organised enough to do this so, trust me, this is a big deal) and limiting the time that I spend online. The screen time report on my phone is the stuff of nightmares recently and that’s a balance that needs redressing.
My plan is continue on Instagram pretty much as normal, even though it’s usually a lot quieter in the summer. My Tuesday Knit Tips have proved to be really popular and scheduling my week around those planned posts has really helped with consistency this year.
Threads is going to be my summer playground. As no one knows what they are doing there yet I’m going to use it as a place to experiment, to chat to people outside of my usual creative circles and just see where the flow takes me. You can find me here if you want to say hi: My Threads profile
I’m not going to be on Twitter (apart from scheduled posts) and I’m going to use the time to decide whether I want to continue having a presence there in the future. I don’t want to be rash and deactivate my account in the heat of the moment (I’ve done that before) but equally I’m not sure how much value it brings me anymore.
Have you thought about how you are going to be using social media this summer? Are you planning on taking a break? I’m always interested in how others are planning to balance things over the summer months.
If you are a fellow introvert who strongly dislikes summer then you might be interested in the following section along with a few journaling prompts that I have found helpful. As I’m sharing more personal reflections here I have chosen to make this available to paid subscribers only as I am more comfortable that way, but please note that I’m always open to having conversations about this offline.
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