Am I Allowed A Social Media Break?
PHOTO COURTESY/ UNSPLASH
I wake up, and I turn off the alarm I set every night just to wake up early and strive to be productive. The moment that phone is in my hand, I’ve surrendered. I see those notifications on my lock screen, and I’m curious. Beyond that, I’ve opened apps from which I didn’t get notifications just out of sheer curiosity about what I may have missed overnight. Sure, I may have missed a few things. Possibly some controversy spreading, another public figure canceled more bad news. An hour passes, and I’ve been scrolling through my phone to only accomplish bringing my anxiety levels up. I’ve consumed loads of information and hyped myself up on dopamine before I could even take a few moments to breathe and take in the sun rays shining through my window blinds. The next morning comes, and I repeat the same pattern.
I’ve advocated for self-awareness and self-compassion for as long as I can remember. And by advocated, I mean through conversations with my loved ones and occasional reposts on my Instagram story.
I became aware of my anxiety during high school. I’d wake up, and for some reason, I’d already feel nervous about what may happen in the day. Will I make a fool of myself? What if I make a fool of myself? What if the teacher calls on me in class? What if I don’t know what to say?
What if.
That was the constant question I had running through my mind as soon as I woke up. Already doubting myself. And I can honestly admit I still have some of these morning thoughts. I eventually learned about the importance of following people on social media who spread the kind of message you need in your daily life. I needed more positivity on my feed, so that’s who I tried to follow. My followings now range from those of Melanie Santos, OrganicOlivia, Jo Franco, Whitney Simmons, and my friends and family. Most people I follow advocate for the self-love, wellness kind of message. But I also follow Radio Caña Negra, Djali Alessandra Brown-Cepeda, Joe Rogan, and certain news outlets that often open up conversations based on societal and political issues.
The interesting thing is that when looking through the content of the people I follow, social media has always been a space where you can see what your friends and family are up to and where you can share some aesthetics. It’s how it started for me. But it’s also become a space for daily encouragement and comparisons. It’s a space to consume information while coming across excessive debates. Of course, social media is great, but it’s best when you’re on it in moderation. The problem is, how can I, as a journalist, take a break and still stay in the loop?
Granted, I may not be on social media as most. And I’m sure some journalists aren’t on social media at all. But it’s hard. And social media has become a place to dive further into a situation beyond reading articles or watching the news. And in moments such as these, in the middle of an anti-black pandemic, if you don’t use your voice to speak on a certain topic, it’s possible you’ll get called out. And you may get called out for speaking out as well.
It took just a day for the death of George Floyd to occur and for our focus to shift from the worries of COVID-19 to also be fueled with the anger and empowerment that comes with advocating for Black Lives Matter. 2020 hasn’t been the best year for many. We’re living in a time of uncertainty, and right now, all we can do is our best.
For me, social media has become toxic when overdone. For now, I’ve decided to put a daily time limit on it because spending hours on it isn’t the best for my mental health as for many people, including journalists around. Recently, journalists have decided to cut back on Twitter while still managing to do their jobs.
At the end of the day, journalists are still people. Much like therapists who need to be able to come back to themselves after digesting the behaviors, emotions, and ideas of others. Just as well as doctors, firefighters, lawyers, and other essential workers who have to fight every day to accomplish their jobs while serving others. Yes, every job is unique on its own. Some may argue that others are more important. That doesn’t take away from the person behind that title.