One of the biggest hurdles to overcome as a business owner with an online presence is how to set social media boundaries for your mental health and your family.
IE 292: Setting Social Media Boundaries as a Business Owner
In episode 290, How to Set Work Life Boundaries Working from Home, we talked about the importance of setting boundaries with social media and your phone.
Today we’re going to dive even deeper into setting social media boundaries because it is necessary for your own mental health and the happiness of your family.
Mental Health Boundaries with Social Media
The reason that we need to talk about this is because as we pay more and more attention and see the things that go on on social media, we know that there are certain things that trigger us.
Traumatic Events
On the day of this recording, it is the day after the shooting in Texas at the schools.
So this is a little bit raw and very much something that I want to make sure that we address because being on social media we see so much of it.
We have 24 hours access to the things that are horrible and very triggering for many of us.
As a former inner city school district teacher that was teaching during Sandy hook and now has a husband that teaches in an inner city school district that goes on lockdown regularly because of the neighborhood that he works in, these horrific events can send one spiraling.
If I am going to continue to be able to serve my audience the way that I know that I need to, I have to take care of my mental health.
I need to disengage from social media to not constantly be reminded of it.
Comparison Trap
We might get triggered by other people when we’re constantly comparing ourselves to them.
That trap of comparison can also be part of the social media boundaries that you need to put in place for yourself.
Maybe you’re not constantly scrolling through Instagram.
Instead you post and then check your DMS to have a conversation with your people.
And instead of going through and being triggered by that comparison, you don’t allow yourself to do that.
When it comes to the mental health side for yourself, you have to know your own triggers.
What sets you off?
What platform is something that really just gets you triggered?
Then think about how you can potentially create those boundaries for your mental health?
Family Boundaries with Social Media
The other piece of this is family boundaries with social media.
In episode290, we talked about how our kids are watching us.
They’re seeing what we’re doing, and if we’re not showing them how we’re able to put the phone down and walk away from it, how are they supposed to?
It is going to be difficult for them to be able to navigate it.
Family Brand Identity
If part of your brand identity is your family then you need to have a conversation with everyone in the family about what this will look like.
What precautions will they need to take and what level of understanding do they need to have of your brand identity.
Social Media Accounts for Children
One of the struggles that we run into as parents is deciding whether we will allow our children to have their own social media accounts and what platforms they will be allowed to use.
In my mind, I take the easy route out and don’t allow any of them.
If you choose to allow your children to have their social media accounts, please be aware of how the algorithm feeds content to your children.
My twelve-year-old was very much bullied this year because of Tik Tok.
Another girl in her class created Tik Tok videos that made fun of my daughter because she was fed similar video content by the algorithm.
She didn’t go looking for it, but found other kids created similar videos and decided to create one about my daughter.
When I reached out to the mother about the content she pleaded ignorant.
She blamed the platform because she didn’t know how to use it and didn’t understand the content her daughter was seeing or what her daughter was creating.
Family Communication on Boundaries
We need to be sure that our children understand that the content they put out never goes away and something they see trending can be extremely harmful to another student.
Our children understand bullying in person, but often do not understand that what they are seeing and doing virtually is just as bad, if not even worse.
We need to have conversations and create those family boundaries for social media.
Those boundaries will often just come from that simple conversation where you sit down and you’re honest about it and you explain how you’re using it, why you’re doing it and how you’re trying to attract your audience.
Explain your business to your kids by doing.
You’re opening communication for any questions that they have about social media and at the same time, you’re showing how you market yourself.
You’re showing them a high level skill that shows that you are a business owner, and that is something that they need to see.
Action Steps:
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