Social media is so much part of our everyday lives. For artists and creators, social media can feel essential for promoting your work, building or presenting your artistic ‘identity’, staying up to date with collaborators, jobs, labels, promoters, agents, performances, workshops, creative tech, meetings, news, reviews and so much more. Social media can be a very useful tool, but the endless scroll can easily become overwhelming. It can make you feel you are not good enough, not doing or creating enough, not achieving enough (or doing as well as other artists). This can fuel anxiety, depression and burnout. Rather than make us feel connected, social media can end up making us feel totally isolated and alone. Our advice on social media use for artists and creators is co-authored with BAPAM counsellor and psychotherapist, Fiona Macbeth:
Tips for Managing Social Media
- Limit the amount of time you spend on social media each day. Use a timer on your phone for each social media platform and set limits that are reasonable in order to achieve what you need… and no more
- Act with intention and stay aware of what you are doing when you are on social media and why. You should be there to meet your objectives, if you are doing anything else, it probably isn’t making you feel good about yourself
- Don’t go on social media if you are feeling vulnerable or low. That post can wait another day so have a break. Always try to avoid social media first thing in a morning and last thing at night
- Think about having different social media accounts for ‘artistic’ and your ‘personal’ life. People use social media to create very specific images of themselves, not a true, warts and all, version. You probably want a different image for work and private, so why not keep them separate?
- Why not delete a platform if it is bringing you more pain than joy? You might initially have a fear of missing something, but this will ease with time, and also put you back in control
- Turn off push notifications. Manage your social media feed, think about what alerts YOU want, and what you can wait to find out about later. Try leaving your phone in another room for 20 minutes
- Could someone help you with your social media presence and posts? Is there someone on your team, or you could employ, to promote you on platforms and help create your image?
- If you are criticised on social media or even worse face abuse, work on letting it go and don’t hold onto it
- Try to avoid comparing yourself to others on social media, and remind yourself, it’s not real! Be careful of self-sabotaging by looking for reassurance about yourself on social media
- Finally try to put some positivity out there too, with kind comments, encouragers or just positive generic messaging, as an alternative to the self promotion
- Don’t just sit in front of the screen. Take breaks, stand up and move around. And look after your eyes. To avoid tired eyes and headaches, try using the 20, 20, 20 rule – for at least 20 seconds, every 20 minutes, look at least 20 feet away
Related information:
If you are worried about your mental health and would like to arrange an expert consultation with BAPAM, find out more about our free clinical service here: Performing Arts Medicine Clinics.
Find out about mental health support at BAPAM.
Our factsheets and resources include advice about physical, mental, vocal and hearing health.
BAPAM’s free online healthy practice training workshops share knowledge and skills to help you prevent problems and enjoy a sustainable creative career.