Hey guys, it's Bridie and welcome back to About Growing. So today I'm going to be talking about social media and social media is not real life slash trying to just live in the present more.
in an age where social media is just like literally everywhere plus it's my job I'm a content creator so how do I manage this how do I separate the two and live life in the present and stay grounded whilst posting like all the time on social media so yeah i guess in a world where we share so much of our lives social media is my job and I don't know really how to draw the line like it's really hard to kind of separate the two
And yeah, just keep up and maintain my life offline even. I feel kind of dysfunctional without my device and it feels like real life isn't real life when I get off of, you know, my devices because I am so, so, so used to. sharing a large portion of my life at least especially before I think I used to use Instagram a lot more now I use it a bit less but you know I'm picking up on like my jobs on instagram now too so i use it a bit more um
And yeah, I have this odd feeling when I don't use my phone or Instagram or something like that. Like it feels like I'm missing something or not doing something right, especially when it's like my job. um being a content creator I kind of want to utilize everything and all these moments and capture everything I think it's about your approach which is how I've been trying to improve on you know, my mental health and how I approach things because I think it can drain you a lot.
just in terms of seeing so much online even as not as a creator but from the perspective of someone who uses social media a lot and just like views other people's lives I think it can be kind of distracting and tainting because you often you kind of grasp these moments of people's lives where it may not be like the full reality but you see so much of other people's lives now that it's kind of distracting from your own life because let's say even like 10 years ago like
or yeah 10 years ago even um social media wasn't that big like there's instagram and facebook and stuff but you wouldn't use it to the degree you do now which is where i have a slight concern for myself because i feel very like not reliant but I need to I need to post like I'm like what am I gonna post what am I posting for like I'm doing things and I feel like I need to post it and I think it just comes from the nature of like
my job as a content creator which is where i'm like okay where do i draw the line here where is this healthy how do i maintain a sense of like reality whilst doing this and I guess I'm still trying to figure it out so that's why I wanted to do this episode but yeah so um yeah like when you see like stories and stuff
like i said before it's super distracting because naturally you wouldn't be looking into what somebody's doing within the 24 hours of their day and even if it's not 24 hours of their day because i feel like most people don't share that much of their day on stories but some people have really long stories actually so who knows but yeah like sharing that much of your day is like
Like even if it's like 10 stories, that's still a lot of stories. Like you get a picture of what's kind of happening in someone's day, even if it's not the whole truth. Because you can paint it in whatever way you kind of want to really.
distracts you from what you're doing and I think that's where certain pressures get put on yourself so for myself personally what I mean is like age deadlines specifically like I feel a lot of pressure to be doing certain things by a certain point in my life because you know I that people are achieving this or people are achieving that and I think that has put a lot of pressure on me and
myself to just do better whatever better might mean to you better to me is just like I want to be excelling in my career and I want to be doing more and growing up faster I guess which I I love that about myself but at the same time I feel like a part of that comes from this pressure because the pressure of like seeing all of this happen online and like other people's lives that's kind of where that pressure comes from I hope it makes sense so
yeah I think it's um somewhat unhealthy but it's hard you know again I'm a content creator I use social media I see people's lives I want to support my friends I want to look at their content But where do you kind of balance all of this?
have a sense of reality I feel like I've said that so many times now but yes it's really like a big thing like how do I maintain my sense of realness and life and enjoy what's going on in the moment without thinking of okay like I could potentially post this like like this would gain some traction you know because that's just naturally honestly how you think as a content creator because you want to be maintaining your stats um when it comes to things like brand deals and
yeah it's really real thing like as organic as some stuff may be like I love my community um at the same time when it comes to the business side of things you do have to consider your stats and you do put a lot of your self-worth and value um like you attach a lot of that to your insights and those numbers because that really is how like brands and companies value value you as a person so yeah it's um it's like a weird concept because so you have to really make sure that
you draw the line at some point otherwise you kind of get really consumed with all of it and it affects you mentally which is why I think a lot of content creators have like a lot of mental health struggles and not even just content creators sorry just like people in general because you
view a lot of what is going on in other people's lives when naturally you should just be focusing on you and what you're doing and not comparing yourself but nowadays I think it's it's very common and very easy to just like you know feel a bit disappointed because
of what you're seeing online um at least i feel that way a little bit i don't know if anybody else does maybe it's just me but also i think it's i definitely think it's like a common theme i feel like a lot of the big social media platforms have
become so like multimedia now for example like Instagram and their whole reels and everything which is great like I think it's great but also um it applies a lot more pressure on like content creators because people I think obviously you want to utilize that and to your advantage and like grow your page and you know your insights your content um and expand like that but because
There's just so many different kinds of media that you have to get into now, I think. For example, YouTube as well. They're doing shorts now. So short videos and things like that. I'm like, whoa, they're really just like combining everything all into one. I guess it just kind of adds to as like a creator of another thing onto your plate of.
you know creating like I'm like okay I need to get into shorts now because that is what the new thing is and I need to keep up otherwise I'm gonna fall behind which is like a real thing like it really is so Yeah, I don't know how I feel about this personally. I guess I just have to like keep up. Maybe I'm a grandma. I feel like one, but you know.
it's like so many things are coming in and I'm like I need to make more of this and I need to make more of that and I think a lot of content creators can relate to that um it definitely like makes the platform more interesting but it's just like a lot going on you know like there's a lot happening In summary, I just say that I feel like as a content creator, I feel pressure to make more, like just to make more content. We actually have this thing on YouTube on your content creator app.
where it tells you how well your video is performing and when you look at that like I know a lot of my YouTube friends can probably agree when you look at that it's really disheartening sometimes because you'll see like it'll tell you like how well it's going or how poorly it's performing. So there's certain wordings and phrases they use for this.
And it can be a little discouraging at times because I think it really just makes you feel like you need to pump out more content, like make more videos, like make more videos like this. Like this is what's working for you, which I think is useful, but also discouraging at the same time. It's kind of.
confusing um it just yeah it's an interesting thing but yeah you'll see your video and maybe it's not doing so well it'll be like it's like ninth out of these 10 recent videos on the list it's not doing so well people didn't like this type of content as much and you're like well that sucks like i really like that video but now you're telling me that i'm making the wrong video or wrong
kind of video for my audience and um I guess it can really push you away from making stuff that feels organic to you um which I guess is like good for like growth if you're focused on growth and stuff but again like normally at least before you didn't have these like verbal and visual cues where it would be like this is doing bad it would just be like okay your video came out you can look at like the insights behind it and that's kind of it um
so yeah I feel kind of mixed about it it's useful but also makes you feel kind of sad not gonna lie when you see it's like okay like this is doing bad because of this and you're like well thanks like Like I didn't need you to remind me of that but okay. As a content creator.
I feel like social media almost can choose my life like 24-7 because any other day when I'm doing stuff, like I'm mainly doing stuff for my channels. So... yeah like I'm either planning content making it editing it doing admin for it and then any of my other time just goes to like my studies um and then
anything else I'm working on or doing in life um otherwise yeah it's just like it consumes me 24 7 which makes sense because I'm like you know a content creator so I totally like take that and get that But yeah, it's interesting. It literally consumed your life low-key. Because you do a lot of things to create content to get it out there.
and you're just kind of thinking of what you need to do next or like the following week or like the following day depends on what platform you're on and what kind of structure and like schedule you run off but that's just kind of how it
yeah it works for me so i think a lot of content creators would probably agree it feels like it's like their whole life and separating the two is a little difficult so for example like you're going on a trip you want to take this trip just you know to enjoy it you don't want to focus too much on
taking content or anything like that but then when the time comes around you're like hmm like I am only here like for this period of time and it would be great to like capture these moments and also to share them because you know they are interesting they are They are intriguing. Maybe they will do well. And then you end up just taking the content anyways. Because, you know, why not? Why, you know, miss out on that opportunity to do that?
um while you're there and I think it takes a really like strong mindset to just kind of like forget about it and just enjoy your time or you know if you don't feel the need to but I think more often than not people will take the chance to at least I feel like a lot of people feel that way um that I've spoken to because it does just kind of somewhat get intertwined like you know you're at the eiffel tower in paris like why wouldn't you take a photo like why why not um
it doesn't make sense and then if you are going to take the photo for yourself anyways why not just share it to social media and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that I'm just saying that it can kind of get a bit intertwined and that's what I mean by it becomes like 24 7 like involved into your life and even as a daily person who just uses social media I'm sure can maybe probably just relate in general if you're just posting for fun you know you're posting for fun but
why wouldn't you capture those cool moments when you're like going out and stuff because that's like nice and i get it like i post all my highlights on my social accounts like instagram and youtube videos um maybe not so much youtube videos but like instagram for sure you know when I'm traveling and stuff I love taking photos I'm not gonna lie like I totally own that um but yeah it does get a bit like you're like hmm like am I doing it for the gram or am I doing it for me um
but yeah so I guess some ways that I've kind of helped with that is I take film photos more often um well I tried to so that I would just you know take the film photo I can post that, but I can enjoy my time without taking like 10 gajillion photos in one go, which honestly, like I still have my camera on me. So sometimes I'll just take them anyway. Cause why not? You know, but.
um yeah i guess i've just adapted to this age i've accepted this is just what it is quite honestly but yeah those are just like some of my thoughts um what else did I write down here oh yeah I think that's why mental health struggles such a common thing amongst creators and just like general like people now because you view so much stuff on
social media there's so much consumption of what's going on in other people's lives and seeing what you should be or seeing certain standards being put before you um And I definitely think there's a level of comparison that you will maybe not intentionally do, but it can lead to devastating. effects such as yeah having mental health struggles becoming more anxious um insecure about things
Just a whole bunch of different things, which I can also relate to. Like I definitely have become insecure about certain things. I definitely feel a level of pressure on myself because I'm like, well, I said this before, but you see like how people are going and you're like, well.
well I shouldn't be doing like this too you know like why am I not doing this or um like ahead I guess that'd be the right word so yeah this is my job at the moment and I am going to continue in this path I love it so much so don't get me wrong even though I'm you know have some of these thoughts about these things I do love the current path I'm on and I love my community and this job and the amount that I've like work that I've put into my pages over the years has really allowed me.
to have like a chance to make it a career so I am grateful for that but at the same time I think there's um a part that drains you a bit mentally just due to having so much consumption of social media in your life like genuinely it's like almost every day of your life which is when i find a bit hard to get away from it or like step away from it for a sec and i think that's why i started posting less over the past few months on like instagram for example just because i was like i think
I should probably just try and, you know, enjoy my life a little more. Also because COVID, but also just for myself mentally. Yeah. I think that's good for yourself. Just know when you need a moment, you know.
Try to have a balance by scheduling things. I think that helps as well, like scheduling the times you go online, even when you post. I know there's like third party apps, which I don't know if I trust fully, but I know they exist where you can like schedule your posts or just schedule it yourself.
of writing it down and being like okay I'm just gonna go on to post this but I won't come back and revisit this until like this time and that's like a good way to go about it I think if you can really stick to that schedule I try to do that so I don't like ponder too long on like the internet so what will I do to live a more
present kind of life i think i last year especially um i think due to covid i focused more on just trying to grow my career in social media like I really seriously sorry not even last year year before that but when COVID hit it was when I like really really really dove in like really hard um because you know there was really nothing else to do other than study and I was like I feel like this is where I have zero distractions I wasn't going out I wasn't seeing friends all the time
and yeah that kind of led me to a very isolated lifestyle I'm not gonna lie so I didn't really hang out with anyone even after lockdown was over I just stuck to myself and I guess now what I think I need to fix and what was wrong with that is balance. I think it's important to have balance. It's impossible to have balance, but I think at least I'm going to try and put more effort into.
like hanging out with friends occasionally doing things that just keep me in the present and enjoying life because I realized that work literally consumed me to like another degree where I literally when I would see people I couldn't really think about anything else and I didn't really know what to talk to with people and I was like wow I really I've become such like a boring person I don't think I was ever like super interesting or anything but yeah I think I just need to
chill out a bit and like enjoy life stuff and have fun a little bit more but not really right now in lockdown it's lockdown but yeah definitely after lockdown i'm gonna have like maybe like a friday for seeing people or like the weekends for chilling out a little bit or at least like a saturday or something just for me um
yeah even for myself I think I need like to allocate time just to do whatever I want although I have been doing a lot of that for the past like recent weeks just because we're in the process of moving so I just literally was like I'm gonna relax for a bit because I know once we move, it's gonna be really busy. And after that, especially because once I get set up, I'm just like back into it, which is why I'm like literally on a marathon of like recording all these podcast episodes in one go.
because I know I don't have time to do this in the next few weeks. I'm like recording all of these in one go. But yeah, so.
yes what was I even on about I've lost my train of thought I do this so much I'll literally like talk about something and I'll forget what I'm talking about let me look at my notes um oh yes so yeah I remember I tried to pre-film content um which I'm kind of on a pre-filmed kind of schedule right now so I'll like film a video except it won't come out until like two or three weeks later because I have another video
before that um and i think because i started making like more videos initially and then i had more to put out then um i would put out in like a month. So let's say I do like a video week or something and I had six videos in total. So now I have two weeks of content prepared. And so I would still continue to film and edit and prepare a video, but instead that video.
would come out just later so after those two weeks come out then I would get that new video I recently not even recently by that point that I had filmed like three weeks ago out so there is a time lag on my content which I don't it's not very clear or easy to see but there is a time lag I don't think it's like that important to mention because I feel like people would be like okay like cool so yeah um I'm just telling you guys so you guys know but yeah there's a bit of a timeline
so I try to keep this pre-film kind of schedule because it allows me also to let's say if I have like a job with like a sponsor or something then I can fit that into my schedule a little easier without having to be so worried about what I'm making that week um so yeah we have a bit of a schedule going on which I am glad I have so yes it definitely helps to have some sort of structure and plan um and then yeah I can like
be a little bit less stressed because then i know kind of what the lineup is at least a little more prepared than i would be if i'm just going like from a week to week basis and that really works for me So yeah people have like whole teams to like do this for them which I'm just like damn that would be like so much easier but they definitely have like the resources for it too whereas I don't have the resources for that. I just said Reese's.
I think I just want to like chill out a little bit maybe for a while after like the summer starts I'm gonna like just enjoy my summer days I'll probably take content while I'm out as well but I'm not gonna like focus my my energy on taking that content if that makes sense like if we happen to be doing something cute i'll be like can you take some photos for me and then i'll just keep it at that um and yeah i think i just lack
or have been really withdrawn. So I haven't been super social, which I wish I have been. But also if I had have been, I would have not have pushed my... career more forward if that makes sense like i wouldn't have been able to get opportunities that i have gotten in the past year so it's really like a you have to weigh up the benefits and the downsides of things really um
But yeah, I don't regret anything, just to put it out there. No regrets, just I want to incorporate more social aspects into my life just so I can be a human being with... social activities to do I missed that a little bit not super much because um I used to go out a lot in first year of university and that was like really exhausting I have no idea how I did that that was exhausting but I did do it somehow
And after that, yeah, after I stopped doing like society stuff for university, I... focused all my energy just on my social media like career and also like everything else that was going on around me not to do with the social aspect of uni and it yeah it really was good for me i think
it grounded me a little more it made me realize I was a bit distracted in my first year but I'm also glad I had that fun because I feel like I would have felt like I missed out or maybe I would want to go back to that now if I hadn't have had that experience so Yes, I am grateful that that happened. But now I'm ready to just enjoy my life and have the people that I care and love around me.
Yeah, meet more new people as well. I love meeting more new people. I just don't know when I will get to because literally we're still in lockdown. Yeah, when am I going to... get to interact with real people i have no clue the closest thing i got to interacting with people was probably just like call people and like facetime that's like literally so sad but That's life right now. So before I wrap up this episode, I just wanted to say a few words.
to remind you guys to just you know enjoy what's happening around you at present because genuinely I do feel like we probably all use social media a little bit too much at some points and you know our day-to-day life some days
like more than others but overall just you know during the daytime i think it's important to just like focus on what's going on like before you and like what's actually like physically happening around you and um yeah just to say grounded in that sense and be in touch with like reality
I like to just like sometimes this sounds so weird but I like to like look at things and I will like touch it and I'll be like this is like this is a chair and like this is a table but it kind of like brings me back to present like I'm like because I feel so dreamy stated some dream stated sometimes is that even a word
Okay, let me rephrase that whole thing. I feel like I am in a dream state sometimes. That's better. So yeah, I feel like I'm literally dreaming. Like sometimes I'll get off my computer and I'm like, oh, like this is life. I feel like reality is not reality. Like I don't.
feel like this is real life i feel like i'm in simulation i feel like just the time goes by so fast and nothing feels real does anybody else ever feel that kind of way like how did morning like it was literally just breakfast time and now it's night time and I'm about to cook dinner that's like me literally
right now I'm like where did the whole day go what happened like the sun was up like not even that long ago but just time moved so fast and I feel like I'm not even living life living life in the sense that like it goes by so quickly I'm like what did I even do um these past few hours like I know what I've done but it's just like I feel so just in a dream state
I hope that kind of makes sense. I feel like a lot of people also feel this way. Maybe it's a lack of like vitamin C or something within my body, but still, yeah, it's a strange feeling because I feel like I felt this kind of feeling even in high school. And then when high school ended, I was like, geez, like that just all went by like literally in a second.
Like that ended so quick and I'm so sad. And I feel like that's what's going to happen with like my 20s. I don't want it to go by that quickly. I want it to last a bit. I want to savor it. But. yeah so that's my thoughts um hope you guys enjoyed this episode and yeah I encourage you to get off your phone and just like go for a walk and just enjoy a moment of life so yeah on that note i hope you guys have a beautiful week thanks for listening head on to so about growing after your walk that is
So go check out the About Growing page on Instagram. And yes, I always post like updates when episodes come out and also get you guys involved with the episodes. So yeah, that's where you can communicate to me any of your thoughts, concerns. opinions you want to vent anything like that we'll have discussions there i'll give you guys some quotes for you guys so yeah we're back we're running and i will see you guys there so thanks for listening and i will see you guys in the next next episode.