One day about 4 months ago, I’ve decided to DELETE the Facebook app on my mobile phone. After I deleted the app, I suddenly find I have more time on my hands. And so I worked on my YouTube channel and Pinterest account:
Over the past 4 months, I’ve created 12 long form videos and 12 shorts videos making the total videos in my channel to be 96. It is now nearing a 100 hundreds. And for my Pinterest accounts, I’ve made more than 100 new pins and grew my Pinterest account and views.
We always thought that we do not have time. But we would be amazed that when we decided to drastically cut down our time on social media, we will be able to free up not only the time, but the mental energy and space to be able to focus on our own goals, hobbies and interest.
What caused my decision to delete Facebook app on my phone
Last year, I was spending a lot of time on FB, mainly in FB support groups on illness and discussions on spiritual topics. Actually I seldom spend time on entertainment content, I mostly prefer places where I could learn.
But it is still very distracting. The Facebook app worked in a way that the moment you have not been on the app for just a few days, it would start sending all sorts of notifications even on unrelated topics just to make us click on it. And the next thing, I find myself browsing through new threads posted by members in support groups and new posts of FB pages that I have been following. And also what my friends ate for lunch/dinner and where they went…
Since my mom required tube feeding about 2 years ago, I do not get the full night’s sleep because of her medicine and feeding schedule time (late at night for her 4th feed, and medicine early in the morning 2 hours before meal on an empty stomach).
I’ve learned in order to care for my mom well, I need to protect my energy levels. After a while, I become more mindful of what activities that causes a dip in my energy levels. I find the time I spend on FB to be one of them. Within these Facebook groups, I find trolls and people who like to put others down and sometimes toxicity in the groups which is often hard for the moderators to eliminate as the group grows.
After a while, I find it is not best for my energy levels to continue to check and browse through these groups. When I stopped going in, the app kept giving notifications even after I’ve logged out of the account!
I have previously tried deleted the app before but always went back it. This time as I am aware of the negative impact it had on my energy levels and wellbeing, I deleted the app and kept it off.
To my surprise, after deleting the app, I find I have more mental energy and so I started working on my own content and videos. That was how I found time to make more videos. Talk about the magic of consistency and compound effect….. just work here and there and the next thing you know, you have done quite a lot for yourself.
You do not need to delete your Facebook account. Just delete the app on your phone
Realize that social media itself is not evil. Social media is effective to reach out and connect with others. We may change phone number or lose our phone and all the contact details in it. But we can always find them back on social media.
Personally for me, I just find the Facebook app on my phone to be too distracting for attention.
We do not need to know every single detail of what is happening to all our FB friends. Also, it is important to keep in mind that often what is posted is not the REAL picture. I know because I have deep friendships with some of these friends offline and I know about the challenges they are facing but on their social media account, it is a totally different picture.
After a while, likely we may not miss it and would appreciate the peace and quiet.
I now access my Facebook account via my desktop. Mainly it is to maintain my Facebook page which is linked to my blogs. I do not really spend time on my personal FB account. After going in to update and reply to messages, I would log off and close the browser window immediately and work on something else.
I would mention a little on TikTok here because I know many people are addicted to Tik Tok as well. I do not have the Tik Tok app on my phone. Recently I did activate a Tik Tok account which I am using it to reupload previously published shorts.
Danger of relapsing- develop a gameplan
Previously my attempts to delete the FB app had failed because I did not have anything to do to replace the time I have. However 4 months ago, I’ve decided I really want to work on my YouTube channel and my Pinterest account again.
Because the time spent now is filled with purpose, I find that I really did not miss going to Facebook to check out what’s new there.
It would be the same for you. Social media is very addictive and if we wish to release the hold social media have on us, we need to replace it with something else that is worthwhile. If not, it is very difficult for anyone to quit.
But what if my goal is just a waste of time?
You will never know unless you have try it. And if you have tried it and did not achieve your goals, it is still better than not to try at all. Because we will never know.
And nothing is ever a waste of time. In the process of going for your goals or dreams, you would learn new skills that may spillover to other areas of your life such as time management, prioritization of tasks, writing, public speaking, technical skills (that could help you to advance in your career) and ….knowing yourself more of your own strengths and weaknesses.
This is something you need to do to learn for yourself. It cannot be achieve through merely thinking and intelectualizing. Because the act of doing is what build the skills and experience.
For example, let’s say you wish to create a side passive income. You have picked to start your own YouTube channel. Yes, granted, YouTube have low barrier of entry…. everyone can just upload a video and call themselves a YouTuber.
But in order to be able to be accepted into their partnership program to earn revenue from ads playing in the video, the requirements is high. You would need:
-1000 subscribers AND in the past 12 months to achieve 4000 watch hours from long form videos, OR
-1000 subscribers, AND in the past 90 days to achieve 10 million views on Shorts videos.
Most creators would never achieve it. Even if they do, they would need to constantly innovate and go on the content producing hamster wheel in order for the income to continue to grow.
Why start if it is so tough?
When we consume mindless entertainment from social media, we gain nothing. Instead, are wasting time that we would never get back.
Any goals that are worthwhile to achieve would not be easy to do. It would not be something that we can achieve within a day, a month or even a year. It takes consistency which produces a compound effect. The daily small efforts we put in, while we do not see much, would one day bring in a return of investment.
Let me share with you my personal experience. I have been blogging for more than 20 years. Over the years through consistency and compounded effect, I’ve build up more than 1000 blog posts across the 7 or so more blogs that I have.
For many years, I’ve never monetized my blogs because I did not want to bother with the taxes. The salary from my job is more than enough to cover for my hosting charges. Because of the practice of writing, I also manage an information portal and communication in my day job which I was paid much more than I would ever earn as a blogger.
Hence, the practice of writing helped me to excel in my career. That is why ROI need not be directly at what we do. It can be indirect.
Fast forward in 2017, my mom was no longer able to be on her own and needed full time care. I quit my job to be her full time caregiver and lost my source of income.
My blogs, which have been there for years came to the rescue. I turned on monetization and was able to earn immediately from articles I have written in the past that are still driving traffic from search engines.
The blogs were build up over a long period of time. Time which I would have wasted anyway through watching TV or shopping which brings totally no benefits.
Therefore, if you have what you felt like an impossible goal, why not sit down NOW and formulate a plan to get there.
The key to achieve big goals is to break them down into smaller chunks and to just do the steps required to get there. Get to work day by day and remember to celebrate and give yourself a pat at the back for small victories or milestones.
One day, you would look back and be amazed at yourself of the huge amount of work you have done.
