How to Create Social Media Boundaries

Learn how to create social media boundaries with these simple tips.

Social media boundaries have become essential to my life. However, I did not always have them. Last month, I took a break from Instagram as I was feeling overwhelmed by it. August was a big month as we went through a lot of transitions and I knew I needed to quiet some of the outside noise.

The break taught me many things and helped me work through some social media boundaries. It is important for all of us to have these boundaries and to live them out for our kids to see.

How to Create Social Media Boundaries

Social media can get a lot of bad press. While I do not love it, I do love aspects of it and am determined to find ways to use it for good. With this, we need to have boundaries.

Determine how much time you want to give social media.

The beautiful thing about our phones is that we can set up time limits to help us be accountable for how much time we are spending on certain apps. We can also check our screen time reports to see where our time is going.

I have found it helpful to create rhythms like no scrolling before the kids go to school, using the carline as a time to check it, etc.

Take regular breaks.

It is healthy to take breaks from your feeds. Think through what your breaks will look like. Personally, I like to take a break every weekend. Now, I am adding in the rhythm of taking one week off a year and one month off a year. Obviously, it can change as I need it to.

Determine when your breaks will be and then create a reminder so you remember!

Do regular evaluation of your thoughts on social media.

I have found it helpful to ask these questions:

Why am I posting this?
How is social media making me feel?
Are there deeper feelings I need to process through?

Remember what social media is- a glimpse into someone’s life.

Social media shows what we want it to show. No one shares everything there. We should not share every emotion and situation online- it wouldn’t be healthy. Yet, often we forget this fact and slip into thinking the tiny squares we are seeing sum up someone’s life.