Self-care tips for social media professionals?

For me it was first accepting something is going to fall through the cracks and that does not make me less of a professional. Once, I was ok and didn't feel guilty about not always being on. It make it easier to do my crafty hobbies. Also making time to commiserate with people who understand helps to validate if I'm off or the world if off. 

Take time to get in to things that don’t need you to use your phone. Subscribe to a physical magazine, play video games on a console. Watch a movie but leave your phone in a different room. If you’re not on duty silence your notifications, they’ll still be there when your clock in next.

Oh and if you’re on holiday, don’t take your work phone. People can survive without your input for a few days.

I try my best to get off my phone and not check notifications outside of work, but it’s definitely hard. For me, the best way to not get burnt out is to get away from my phone. My go to is going to the gym or outside for a run. Even just having lunch outside on a nice day always helps me! 

It’s so hard not to be “chronically online”. I’ve invested in lengthy offline hobbies like backpacking (no internet in the wilderness!) and running like ​@emily.murray mentioned but still find myself scrolling when it’s not good for me!

This can be applied to almost any field but a great supervisor I had a few years back encouraged me to keep a “kudos” folder. Any time I get positive feedback in writing, I screenshot it and save it to the kudos folder for a future tough day at the office. It’s a great reminder that the odd mistake does not outweigh the value of my work. The contents also ended up being very useful for my latest job search, haha.

Totally get where you're coming from, it’s such an ongoing juggle.

For me, resetting and winding down has become something I really have to be intentional about. I’ve realised that protecting my time is key. Working longer hours doesn’t always mean I’m getting more done. Actually, the more I started properly switching off, the sharper and more productive I became when I was back ‘on’. I used to overthink and overwork things a lot, and I’ve really tried to overcook things less. Often it’s the simpler, more instinctive content that ends up being the most effective.

I try to be quite disciplined with downtime. Getting outside is a big one, even just a quick walk or some time away from devices really helps clear my head. I’ll often step away completely to do something that’s not screen-based and hands on like gardening, it breaks the loop a bit and feels properly refreshing.  It’s definitely a conscious effort, something I have to keep working at and remind myself to do. But, always worth it for the headspace it gives me.

I put a set time on my cal to have a device free moment to decompress and reset. my top thing to do right now is to go on walks in the AM. 

​@kate.meyers emery  nailed it.

I would also add - a mentor one time told me it was essential to dip in and out. While Sprout is always open (along with the native social channels) I do not have the screen constantly open. Since I am no longer in the agency world and work for a nonprofit as inhouse social, I am a team of one -- this is essential for my mental health and well being.

I check social. like I do my email - at set times during the day. I also have two set times on the weekend to check in, and since our largest community for patients and caregivers are on Facebook, make sure I have it set up so that when we are hit by spammers for hours (like we were earlier this week) the posts are hidden until I can come back to my desk during working hours to ban those users and tag them in my Spam report so they understand the time that community management can take for a SMM.