One of the problems that happen to many people who like to use social media is that it takes over their lives.
Even if you’re doing it for work, you must admit that sometimes it is not really work – at least it’s not productive work.
If you can focus on productivity instead of activity, you can accomplish so much more in your life.

1. Schedule Time for Social Media – Don’t just check your social media whenever you want to. Instead, create a plan that gives you certain times and days that you work on social media. If you don’t want to get sucked into the abyss, it’s important to stick to a schedule.

2. Use Automation Smartly – When you automate social media tasks, it will help you get the most out of social media without causing overload. For example, you can automate post scheduling so you don’t have to do that every single day.

3. Focus on What Matters Most – When it comes to doing tasks on social media, money-making tasks should come first, then relationship building, then personal activities. If you focus on just whatever is in front of you when you check your social media, you’ll get sucked in. Instead, have a plan of attack.

4. Outsource – Find someone to help you with social media if you’re using it for business. There are many social media managers who are good at helping you do the job properly. If that’s not your main money-making activity, let someone else do it.

5. Use the Right Tools – Sproutsocial.com, Hootsuite.com and other tools like this can help you manage your social media, keeping you from being overloaded by information that doesn’t matter to you. Social aggregators can put all the information in one spot for you, making your tasks much faster.

6. Turn Off Notifications – There must be parts of your day where social media doesn’t come into play. When you’re in a meeting; when you’re with your family; when you’re out with friends; when you’re in the bathroom. These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. Turn it off. Don’t look at it other than during the times you’ve set.

7. Avoid Multitasking – Sometimes when you try to do too much at once, you end up sucked into the social media black hole because your brain is trying to get a break. Instead, when you’re on social media, only do social media that you’ve planned. When you’re with your family, be with your family.

8. Don’t Lie to Yourself – Many times being “busy” feels good. It feels like you’re doing something and accomplishing something. But, the truth is, not all activities that make you busy are productive. It’s important that you develop the ability to be honest with yourself about why you’re doing something.

Social media overload can cause a multitude of problems.
Headaches due to stress are very common from looking at screens and seeing the abundance of (often contradictory) information streaming through your social media accounts.
Learn to schedule and learn to plan, and you’ll avoid social media overload.