I think we can all agree that social media, specifically on our mobile devices, takes up a good bit of our time. Most of us (including me), prefer not to think about how many times we open our social media per day, justifying ourselves by thinking we’re “building our audience.” For some of us, this may be true. But for others? We need to ask ourselves one key question:
Do I want to be a Producer, or a Consumer?
This question came to my attention after reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. If you haven’t read it, you must. It’s one of those books that will change your life. Cal makes the argument that we are so distracted today by all our email, social media, and notifications, that we can’t get any real work done.
Let’s say for a moment that you’re a brilliant programmer. You have this great idea about real estate and blockchain, but you’re just so busy that you don’t feel like you have time to pursue another project.
Then you get an idea: what if you take a month off of mobile social media, and dedicate that time to working on this project? You give it a try, and while you don’t have as much time for your idea as you would if you’d quit your day job, you make progress, and the project comes to life.
While there are many exceptions to the point I’m making, simplifying our lives into two categories, 1) Producer, and 2) Consumer, really helps bring things into focus. My one-month off mobile social media did free up some time. And I was more productive. If the same could happen for you, wouldn’t it be worth it to give this a try?
To help you think through whether or not you use mobile social media as a producer or a consumer, ask yourself these five questions:
- Why do I use [insert app here]?
- Am I furthering my life goals by using [insert app here]?
- Am I making money from [insert app here]?
- I’m consuming lots of content on [insert app here] — are the authors of that content producers or consumers?
- Are other people using my time through [insert app here]? Or am I using theirs?
Maybe I’m the only person who asked myself these questions and immediately knew I was using Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Timehop purely as a consumer. Maybe you’re an amazing producer. But maybe you’re not.
What if you spent the time you already have (the time you’re currently spending on mobile social media) on producing something? What if you actually weren’t too busy to build that dream company of yours?
What if you were a producer, and not a consumer?
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