I have written a bunch of posts about the struggles of social media and navigating life online for hobbies, work, and in general over the past weeks, and I think it is about time that I try to bring some sunshine to this area of discussion. Social media is a tool; it is not all bad, and if it is utilised in moderation and for good, it can be a wonderful thing to incorporate into our lives. So how can we adjust our habits to ground ourselves as content creators, allowing for sharing things with our online communities while remaining human, enjoying the mundane things and living in the now?

Now, let me specify my intention with this. I want to make it so that others avoid burnout as much as possible, not just delaying it. Something I have learned while bouncing back from my burnout is that I still love learning new things from others on social media, and I want to provide as much mental and intellectual stimulation in return. As I said, social media is a tool. The point isn’t to cut it out completely, though that is an option. I want to find that perfect balance so that it feels like an accessory, not an extension of ourselves.

• Go touch some grass

Every day, there should be a decent amount of time away from social media. I don’t just mean while you’re sleeping, or outside of meals. I mean that there should be times you intentionally set aside your technology and go outside, spend time outdoors doing something without scrolling or messaging people. Not only is this social media-free time, it is also time to check in with ourselves. When that “bio-hacking” and “optimising our daily lives” trend was going on, a few points were getting at least 5 mins of sunshine every day, walking 10,000 steps, and no screentime for the first hour after you wake up and the last hour before you fall asleep. While 10,000 might be a little extreme, they aren’t bad general practices, especially considering the hunched forms we tend to take when using our devices curled up on the couch or in bed. Going outside is also just a brilliant way to gain perspective on things. Life is so much more than social media, and your life is so much more than the screen. By going outside and taking time away for ourselves, we can put ourselves first and make sure the importance of social media is not overtaking the importance of the self.

• Reassess your why

This is something I think we should all be doing on a fairly regular basis. It can be so easy to lose ourselves in the fast-paced, ever-changing trends on social media. This is very true for content creators especially, as things gain popularity and traction, there is this voice in the back of our heads that says we should jump on that trend, follow that hype train, get invested in all these little things that take us further and further from our authentic selves. It is so important to tap back in with ourselves, our “why” for being on social media, and to keep that in mind as we continue to wade through the online space. For example, when I first started as a book blogger on Instagram, I would take amateur photos of the books I was reading, write lengthy reviews and not always to the point on objective matters, and I read widely. Over the next two to three years, I found myself slipping down into a rabbit hole of fantasy and YA books that were photo-focused, all looking a certain way aesthetically, and not providing much in terms of written review. Making this kind of content made me feel almost invisible because it all looked like everyone else’s, so I then tried to differentiate myself by branching out, only to struggle with moving away from the aesthetic norm of the community and the popular genres, making me feel like I was an imposter in the space for wanting to talk about historical fiction, NZ fiction, or science fiction. I started to find a group of people who felt similar to me in terms of our reading tastes, subjective reviewing points, and overall enjoyment of reading. Unfortunately, this was also roughly when I felt that creator burnout really cement itself in my mind. Had I checked in with myself and really outlined what I wanted out of what is a hobby account, I think I would have been able to counter the pressure I was putting on myself.

• Having hobbies we don’t publicise/document

This one really helps me as an introvert, because I tend to use my hobbies as moments to process things mentally and emotionally. By keeping hobbies to myself, or at least minimising my documentation and advertising of them, I can create private spaces that still allow me a sanctuary in that sense. Reading is a passion of mine, and it is an intellectually and emotionally stimulating thing that I don’t mind sharing with others. If I were to post about my baking, my downtime completing puzzle books and jigsaws, all the music I listen to, and all the other things I do, I would not have anything for myself. At the end of the day, the hobbies we do are for our enjoyment. They aren’t things for us to perform for others or seek validation from. I don’t think it is a bad thing to show others that we can have varying and various interests we are excited to talk about and explore, but we should also be keeping things for ourselves.

• Question the hustle system

Take a step back and look at the “normalised” post schedule that is encouraged on social media. This rigorous post schedule, every day or every other day, is bonkers. It is ridiculous. It is draining people’s time to be creative, to allow for something of substance to be worked on and polished up, and it is setting a “quantity over quality” mindset that leads straight to burnout. Linking back to my point about your why, what is it that genuinely matters to you? Creating an engaging, thought-provoking piece of content that resonates and brings with it discussion and like-minded people to your account, or getting multiple things up to catch the algorithm’s attention and boost your posts to people who may not be interested in your content? I know I probably said it a little harshly there, but it is true. By taking your time and making content you are excited about, even if it takes more time, focus, or resources, you will attract the interest of people who are genuinely invested in these things you are contributing to. To put it more into the context of bookish social media, let me try to provide an example. Instead of creating seven posts for the week (three reels and four photos) with loose relevance to your genres of interest or what you are reading, two of which are trendy items that have no connection to you and your reading preferences, you could make three posts (one reel and two photos) that better show what kind of reader you are, what you look for in a book, your in-depth feeling about recent reads, your bookish humour, and give people a better idea of who you are as a creator, a reader, and a person. Maybe three posts total is a bit low, so let’s say two reels and three photos, but you see where I am going with this. Not only does it reduce the pressure on you to create so much content, but it is also doing a better job at making you stand out among the many bookstagrammers out there. Do you really need to be posting every day?

• Make sure you are still enjoying your hobby

Reading is a practice many reconnect with through voluntary reading (outside of school or uni coursework), and I feel maybe social media contributes to that forceful feeling we got in school when we had to read, which makes some people give up the hobby. If there is no joy in it for you, you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to continue to do it. It is the worst thing to lose that spark for something you once loved because it feels more like a job than a hobby. I think this is one of the most important things I could say on this matter, so if this is the only thing you remember from my post today, that is okay. Reading is a hobby, and for a few of us out there, it is associated with our jobs, but bookish social media is not something most of us are living off. It does not pay the bills. It is a window in our lives and our loves, and it is something we are doing to share that love with others. The core of the practice is our feeling for the thing we are doing, so how can we continue to enjoy the experience and process of reading if that joy is gone? If you are getting sick of a popular genre, then stop reading it. If you need to limit the content you see regarding certain tropes, books, or fandoms, then do what you need to do to limit seeing them by muting people, blocking keywords, etc. If you are feeling a reading slump coming and seeing everyone else read five books last week makes you feel worse, take a step back from bookish social media for a few days and let yourself work through the thoughts and feelings surrounding that book or your state of mind.

I hope these points can help those needing to gather themselves mentally when it comes to their hobbies, especially those which are shown on social media. There is nothing wrong with sharing these hobbies online, but just remember that we are human beings who need space to be ourselves, and hobbies are one of those things that should make us happy. No matter how skilful we are in those hobbies, we shouldn’t be letting social media dictate how we express ourselves or what we should talk about regarding our hobbies.