I Was Letting Social Media Dictate My Life

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I’ve always been a social media girl. My first social media page before social media became what it is today was Xanga.com. And Xanga was actually a blogging page; I had to look it up because it’s been so long. I didn’t even know what blogging was back then. All I knew was that my friends had a Xanga page and were uploading and commenting regularly. There was also an anonymous chat box where people could leave messages anonymously. 

Anyway, after Xanga, I had a few other pages, like Mi Gente and Hi-5, and eventually, MySpace became really popular. I remember spending HOURS on MySpace and AOL Instant Messenger. Then I kept hearing about college students getting Facebook. Initially, I was hesitant because I wasn’t in college, but then my cousin told me I should get it and not worry that I was still in high school. 

And then came Instagram. It was quiet on Instagram at first. I thought it was a photo-sharing app for posting pictures on Facebook. But then, as more and more of my friends joined, I realized it was another Facebook just for pictures. We now know how Instagram has changed throughout the years and where it is today. But I’m sharing this to give you the backstory of when my actual social media burnout began because this was years in the making—it didn’t happen overnight. 

As each platform came and went, I learned how to use each one, what to post, how often to post, etc., and I slowly became an oversharer of my life online. With each new social media platform, I was one of the first to join. I loved social media. I was active on social media. I felt like everything needed to be shared on social media because if it wasn’t on social media it didn’t really happen. 

So, let’s fast-forward to when I started building an online presence because there is a difference between using social media for leisure and being intentional about business, content creation, projects, etc. I think it was in 2021 when Instagram's algorithm kept showing me accounts that were either doing a side hustle or had their own business. I was also starting to follow many writers, speakers, authors, and people posting more than just family and friends. I hope I’m making sense and you’re following along. 

In trying to build this online presence and following accounts doing the same, I posted everything! I was constantly on social media creating content, thinking of content to create, trying to organize, being strategic, engaging with other accounts, and following trends. I would look at other people’s posts and want to post like them or do similar things. If someone was on a trip, I wanted to be on a trip, too. This went on for years.