As someone who’s incredibly focused on living a digitally decluttered life, I often talk about social media use because social media use can be very taxing on our brains. I invite everyone to approach social media intelligently using your prefrontal cortex. That is your brain’s “COE”–Chief of Everything–that’s in charge, planning ahead, and making good decisions that will improve you. It’s not that part of your brain that runs on autopilot and will just haphazardly, nonstop scroll just to fill time. So that is my approach to social media. And I’m big on this because I am a digital marketer by trade and about…gosh, golly…75 to 85% of my income is derived by managing social media for myself and clients. So I get that. It is a core way we communicate; it’s a core way we do business. And with that reality, I know that I need to use it intelligently.

I can’t step away, like a lot of people. So this is a composite sketch, even though I can think of a few people who have outright said this to me, they’ll come back to me. And they’re like, I don’t like social media. I’ve got to get off of there. I’ve got to step away. To them, I say, then go. I’m not such a huge fan of social media that I think it’s essential for your daily life. I totally get that, for many of you, it’s not necessary for business and you’re staying connected on other ways. And by all means, I invite you to leave. But before you do, I really want you to pause and look at what’s going on in your brain. Are you retreating out of fear or overwhelm? Because listen, folks, if you don’t conquer those issues with social media, they’re going to crop up in other areas of your life.

You’re going to retreat in fear and overwhelm in other ways. This is a great opportunity to invite yourself to step up and take the lead. So yeah, you may choose after you step up and take the lead to walk away entirely, and more power to you. That’s awesome. But if you were really just whimpering in retreat, I would love for you to hit pause and understand that decision and maybe use it as a chance to develop your personal leadership skills for yourself. So again, I say use social media intelligently in a way that enhances your business, your life, your connections, and then walk away, being able to use it on your own terms or leave it entirely–but only do so when you’ve consciously made that intelligent decision in a way that you can sustain and a way that you feel competent and good about.