How to Make Social Media Great Again!

Many people claim social media to be "toxic", but it does NOT have to be! Here's how to transform your social media into something positive!

Your environment is what dictates your future. In these modern times, a HUGE part of our environment is digital. Most people spend at least 2-3 every day on social media. At the same time, many people claim that social media is toxic.

Let’s fix that!

First things first:

The one realization we need to make here is that these platforms don’t have the goal of destroying you and your goals. Their one and only goal is to keep people on their platform. This way they can serve more ads and make more moolah.

The algorithms are your greatest power!

Make Social Media Great Again:

You ARE the algorithm!

Here’s the thing:

The algorithms are designed to show you the things you engage with most. If social media feels toxic, realize that YOU chose for it to be toxic! You get served different kinds of content not because Instagram wants to shove it down your throat, but because they know you consume a ton of content like it.

Supertip: Before doing anything else, go to settings on your phone. Find your notification settings and turn everything off! You might want to turn phone calls on for emergencies, but other than that, turn it off.

Trust me, you’re not missing anything & your focus will skyrocket when you’re not being distracted every 53.8 seconds.

Step 1: The Cleanup:

Firstly, I would like for you to get crystal clear on what is important to you. What goals do you have? Who do you want to become? What kind of people would you love to have in your life?

Even if it’s basic, write it down on a piece of paper.

Go through each of your social media in turn. Using your goals as your guidelines, I want you to look at these platforms and ask yourself: “Is this helping me build my dream life, or does it detract from it?

With that in mind, here are your weapons:

Unfollow: The best starting point is the people and pages you follow. Go through your entire list and unfollow everyone not in alignment with your vision. (Note: For friends and family, most platforms have an option to stay friends but not see their posts).
Ignore: When you see drama, negativity or unhelpful things on your “For You” page, scroll by. The less you interact with that kind of content, the less likely you are to see it later.
Hide: Even better than ignoring. Most platforms have a button that says something along the lines of “Show me less of this” or “I’m not interested”. Use them to train your algorithm to not show you the negative crap.
Block: Trolls on your posts? Seeing content from extremely negative people/pages? Feeling worse after seeing certain content? Block the offending people and pages.
Turn Off Features: An example of this would be YouTube. It often shows the “Shorts” section. But when you click on the “X”, you can stop it from showing up for at least a few days to a few weeks. Other platforms will have similar options.
Settings: This will be highly specific, but platforms usually give you some control over your feeds. Usually, the defaults are the most addictive settings. See what you can change for a better experience. I.E. Make your following the default page, instead of the “For You”.

Note:

When you’re cleaning up your social media, be relentless for the first couple of days. You don’t want to be like that girl who gives 725 mixed signals and confuses the guy into oblivion.

Step 2: The Buildup

Next, you need to fill the void.

Social media platforms are always looking for content to serve you. WHen you’re not active in curating your feed, you’re going to get random crap. Chances are that you trade in one kind of negative content for another kind of equally awful content.

Here are my suggestions for doing this:

1. Go for Long-Form: Short form content is the fast food of social media. It might look nice and give a bit of dopamine, but afterwards you feel sick. It doesn’t have any nutritional value whatsoever.

Start with your goals and the skills you need to learn to achieve them.

Find content creators who create long form content that provides understanding, depth and actionable insights. This is the equivalent to a good, nutritious meal. Don’t get into “learning” for the sake of it, but always look through the lens of your goals.

2. Train Your Algorithm: Remember that you ARE the algorithm. You will get more of what you watch and interact with. For the next few days, use this to your advantage!

Here’s are your tools:

Search: Actively search for the type of content that helps you achieve your goals. Things like “How to [insert topic]” or “Best ways to [achieve outcome]” or “How to fix [problem]”.
Browse: When you’re searching for certain content, the platforms will start offering your other content it thinks is similar. Consider these suggestions carefully and only pick the topics you think will advance your goals and yourself.
Follow: When you find people with useful content, follow them. Depending on the platform you might have the option to prioritize their content over others, use it.
Engage: You can do this by watching their content. You can do it by pressing the like button. You can leave comments. You can save it for later. All of these actions signal that you like this kind of content and want to see more of it.
Exclusivity: For at least a week focus on only watching and engaging with this kind of content. It takes a few days to dramatically change your feed. But you can only change it if you show consistent signals.
Surveys: Some platforms sometimes offer surveys to learn more. I know YouTube does this quite often. When you see them offer somethings along the lines of “Tell us what you like to see”, take that opportunity!

Supertip: If you aren’t already, subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

After a few days of these taking these steps, your social media will be WAY more positive, uplifting, educational and useful to you! It won’t be a toxic environment anymore, but something that makes you a better person.

Remember: Social media is only as “toxic” as you make it!

Have a great day!
Maikel

Ps. Cleaning up your social media is a great start, but not nearly enough! You need to actually get shit done to achieve your goals! Learn the secrets to getting more done in less time with my free productivity training & worksheets!