This month I am focussing on the thing I spend a lot of time worrying about and not enough time doing something about: my social media and phone use. I love social media but I need to introduce healthy social media habits. My favourite social media is Instagram and my friend recently told me that you can buy real Instagram likes so I might check that out!!

Do you remember when mobile phones were just phones? And that was amazing? I remember those early models, big as shoe, clunky as hell and more status symbol than anything else. I remember when we used to regard those early adopters with suspicion – wanker phones we used to call them. Then we all got our own: indestructible brightly coloured Nokia bricks, with nothing more than a primitive game of snake to keep us entertained at bus stops. Smart phones happened and within a few short years the mobile phone that could access the internet became ubiquitous. Every man, woman and increasingly younger child has one. We are always on, always available, always plugged in. And I have to wonder if that’s such a great thing.

I know that I need to disconnect with my technology so that I can reconnect with what’s truly important. As a blogger and someone who advises others on how to use social media, that’s not an easy task.

But it’s one I need to face. Being in this industry, it can be quite hard to remove yourself from social media, but with this being said, it does play a massive part in the work that I do. It allows me to connect with clients, gain new customers and keep up to date with all things media related. As one of my goals is to grow my business, I was recommended to look into examples of Digital Transformation to see how technology plays a part in various industries and how I, am many others can use this as an advantage to grow.

This month I am going to focus on healthy social media and mobile device use. I think social media has a very important place in modern life. But I know my use of it needs to be managed and I have developed poor habits. No-one has gifted me more hours in the day, so time I spend on social media is being taken away from something else.

This month, I am concentrating on creating new, healthy social media habits, reclaiming time and putting social media in its rightful place within my life.

If that sounds like something you need to do too, I’d love you to join me.

I have created a few printables that I intend to place on my phone, depending on the context. They are available right here, for free, and you might find them useful too.
(The file is quite large so it may take a moment to load)

With the help of those printables, this is how I intend to create healthy social media habits:

• These are the things I intend to do first thing in the morning: look at the sunrise, meditate, plan my day, write or create. I will not check my phone first thing. I once read a wonderful thing – When you check your social media first thing in the morning, you are letting other people set the agenda for your day. I am going to set my own agenda.
• I will schedule specific time to check social media. And I will use that time wisely and efficiently.
• When with my kids, I will only use my phone to make and receive calls and text messages.
• I will use my proper camera when we go on family outings.
• I have installed a great app on my phone called BreakFree. It lets me know exactly how much time I am spending on my phone daily and gives me a gentle nudge when it’s getting a bit on the ridiculous side. I highly recommend it.
• I will not check my phone whilst in the car. At all. Not at the lights. Not before pulling out of a park. Not after parking. I do charge my phone in the car, so it is within tempting to reach. I need to show a good example to my children and provide a safe environment. I am so glad to see the QLD government get on board with this: Join the Drive. I have signed up to the campaign to help me kick a very dangerous habit. I hope you will too.

You could put your phone in your bag or in the boot. If you are charging it, then you could use this printable.

This month, I will be exploring the good, the bad and the ugly sides of social media and technology use, with a focus on developing healthy social media habits. I hope you join in the conversation and we can help each other navigate a brave new world that we are all just trying to figure out.

Do you find social media a challenge?
Are their any habits you are trying to break?

A note on this post: Every month, I focus the blog on a different topic that is of interest to me as a mother of young children. Last month was motherhood, career and identity, and this month it’s social media and technology use. I will normally set a challenge based around the topic for myself and readers (if they are interested!) to work through during the month. My aim is to find clarity, a better way to live and to bring my inner minx out to play. That doesn’t mean the challenges are exclusively for mothers. I think we often come to points in our lives when things have shifted, or we aren’t happy with what we are doing, and we need re-evaulate who we are, what’s important to us and how we want to live our lives. That’s the crux of what these monthly challenges are about. I hope you find them as helpful as I do.