How to Take a Social Media Break

social media break

Taking a social media break is always a good idea. And with the holidays right around the corner, more people will be tempted to go offline and spend time in the moment with their loved ones.

The only thing is… Leaving social media for even just a few days can actually be a little stressful. We have become accustomed to scrolling through all of our various social media platforms each and every day. Checking for new tweets and Facebook posts, watching Instagram Stories, and seeing what’s happening on LinkedIn.

We often feel like we’re missing out on something if we don’t stay updated with all the latest posts. And if you’re running social media accounts as a brand, then you likely feel even more pressure to show up every single day. However, it doesn’t have to be like that!

You can absolutely take a social media break. In fact, you deserve it! And you don’t have to worry about completely losing your audience in the process.

How to Take a Social Media Break

To ensure your time away from the web is effective, there are a few tips you’ll want to keep in mind. This way, you will be able to enjoy a stress-free break.

1. Decide When You’ll Take a Break & for How Long

An important step in taking your social media break is to decide when you’re going offline and how long you’ll be away. You might choose to log out of your accounts for just a few days or maybe you’ll commit to something longer like an entire week. It’s totally up to you. Do what you feel is necessary for you and your mental health. How long of a break do you need? Give yourself that time off.

Then, you can notify your audience beforehand so they know not to expect a response from you until you return. You can also ask that they email you with any urgent requests so important issues don’t go ignored for too long. Pin your post about going offline to your profiles on Twitter and Facebook. Update your Instagram bio to reflect this as well.

2. Prepare in Advance by Scheduling Content

Just because you’re taking a social media break, it doesn’t mean you need to completely ghost your audience. You can still continue putting out fresh content without actually being present by scheduling your posts in advance. Should you decide to do this, block off some time prior to logging out of your accounts to fill your social media queue with plenty of content.

This post has some great recommendations for third-party scheduling tools.

3. Pick Something Else to Fill Your Social Media Time

One fun idea you can implement is to find something more productive to do with the time where you’d usually be scrolling through your social media feeds. If you find that you’d often open Twitter first thing in the morning, what’s something you could do instead?

You could maybe read a book or listen to a podcast. Or you might want to use that time to get in a morning workout. Either way, just do something that will benefit your mind and body and get accustomed to replacing your social media time with it. You can then continue doing this even after your social media break ends to help you form new, healthy habits.

4. Delete Social Media Apps Off Your Smartphone

You’re going to be much more likely to mindlessly scroll through Instagram if the app is still on your phone. In order for your social media break to be effective, it’s best to delete the apps entirely. This way, you won’t even see it on your home screen, so there’s less temptation to check what others are posting. If you don’t want to delete the apps, at the very least, you can log out of all of your accounts.

When You Come Back After Your Social Media Break…

Remember how good the time away from the online space felt for you. And remind yourself that it’s totally okay for you to log out from time to time. Your audience won’t completely forget about you and your brand will survive. And make sure you’re incorporating some of those new habits into your daily routine so you can continue to benefit from them long-term.