Ever picked up your phone to check a notification and found yourself scrolling through your social media accounts for more than an hour? If you have not, you are in the minority. Most of us who have been there — repeatedly — always wonder how we got distracted and lost hours that could otherwise have been used more productively.
One commonly suggested solution to the distraction of social media is turning off notifications. While some say deleting and reinstalling apps works for them, others go as far as deactivating their accounts. But none of these options will look good to anyone whose work takes place on these platforms.
If the average user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes daily on social media in 2024, a digital marketer or social media manager probably spends thrice that amount of time.
I'd like to think that no job is perfect — you can send me a message if you disagree — but it's interesting to see people whose jobs require them to deal with performance inhibitors daily and still deliver on the tasks.
I spoke with six social media managers to understand how they deal with addiction, doomscrolling, high screen exposure, and the impact on mental health, among other challenges.
My anonymous contributors shared how their typical day goes and what they do to remain productive despite many challenges.
Morris
Typical day
When I wake up, the first thing is to catch up with everything that happened overnight and attend to any message that requires my attention. I also check up on all the accounts I'm handling, engage the comments, and likes.
From there, I move on to scheduling posts for that day. Mind you, I've already worked on the content the previous night. When I'm not done creating content, I attend to them once I'm done scheduling the posts that should go out first. I also research trends and what competitors are doing.
By midday, I'll check active campaigns to get data insights and resolve any ad crisis. Being a social media manager is not easy. I spend between seven and nine hours cumulative online every day managing social media accounts.
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Productivity hack
If you're familiar with Instagram, you'll know how to use the Business Suite to schedule posts. I also use other apps that help me break down my projects into smaller tasks and attach deadlines. I use Buffer to schedule posts, and that saves me time and helps me avoid going on social media constantly. I also use a tool called Focus Booster to manage my concentration during work.
Managing challenges
My biggest challenge is phone addiction; I am perpetually online, but I don't get to respond to people quickly because I'm busy. This is affecting my relationship with people because I don't attend to personal issues. Still, some of my friends understand my situation.
To manage this challenge, I set boundaries to mitigate the distraction so that work hours can remain work hours. I also schedule my phone-use times. Evenings are supposed to be my personal time, so I disable some apps on my phone and set reminders for what I should do.
One thing I've started to do is practise mental control through meditation. This helps me remain calm when clients trigger me. As someone who's constantly exposed to social media, the chances that I will be overwhelmed or experience things that affect my self esteem are quite high.
I never thought I'd embrace meditation, but here I am. I ensure I take regular breaks when it's time to go offline. And when I do, I always engage in other interesting things.
Glen
Typical day
I spent approximately 12 hours on my phone or PC because I needed to source for content inspiration and see what competition and similar brands are doing. Content ideation doesn't start when you want to create a calendar; you need to have a sheet where you dump your ideas, samples, etc. So when it's time to build a calendar, it's easier and you reduce time wasted due to creative blocks.
Productivity hack
There's no one-size-fits-all approach. For instance, I have ADHD, so my attention span is short. If you are like me, task trackers aren't 100% effective as people would like to say; but using Google Calendar, Trello, or Asana for task requests could make it easier and you don't feel pressured later.
Managing challenges
My biggest challenge is ADHD so I often find myself in the doomscrolling loop. Also, it's good to realise early that you need to have a life outside work; you need to have activities that take you off your phone — hang out, party, gym, live your life.
Accept that half of your work isn't an emergency, and since you aren't saving lives, you can do other things with your time. Don't think that if you are not with one of your devices, something will go wrong.
Lilian
Typical day
I'm on my phone for about 13 hours a day, starting in the early hours of the morning. My day typically begins with posting on all my social media stories and then cross-checking all the creatives I have lined up. Throughout the day, I create new content, edit videos, and work on Canva designs to ensure everything is visually appealing and engaging.
Productivity hack
I use a to-do list to keep track of my tasks and ensure I stay organised. Several apps help me manage my workload efficiently, including Canva for design, CapCut for video editing, and ChatGPT for content creation and brainstorming new ideas.
Managing challenges
The biggest challenge for me is dealing with a creative block. There are times when I struggle to come up with ideas for content. It can be quite frustrating, but I try to push through by seeking inspiration from various sources and taking breaks to clear my mind.
Lauren
While social media and constant phone use are not necessarily bad until they become excessive. But if you are a social media manager, for example, you're working there; you have to stay on social media and use your phone. Trust me, you won't get a headache from "pressing phone" like the average African mother often says.
Typical day
I don't like to see myself as a social media manager because I just pop in, post, and go. I only deviate from this routine when I have to source for content; that's when I doomscroll on Instagram, TikTok, and anywhere else I can find content. If I combine all the hours I spend on my phone and social media, it'll be less than five hours.
Productivity hack
I use an app called Trello. We use it in my department to keep track of all our tasks. For each day, there's a card that contains everything each person has to do.
The key to working on social media is to be focused on one thing at a time. Honestly, it can get very distracting. Know what you're there to do and do it before doing any other thing, for instance, checking that Instablog post that just got your attention. I tell myself to "Do it first."
Managing challenges
This doesn't have any effect on my mental health and general wellbeing, and if there's any, I've probably not discovered it. But I admit that I doomscroll sometimes. To manage this, I make sure I remind myself why I'm going on social media; if it's for work, I make sure I work, and if it's for leisure, I do that.
Anthony
Typical day
As a content creator and social media manager, I spend between two and four hours on social platforms and six to seven hours on my phone or laptop daily, reading, writing, designing, or making videos.
My social media activities include writing and optimising posts, looking for inspiration, and commenting on other creatives' posts.
Productivity hack
I use Google Calendar to schedule all my tasks. I use a stopwatch/timer to track my activities, and lastly, I permanently filter all social notifications and leave my phone on Do Not Disturb until I have to check my messages.
Lastly, on YouTube, I started curating a playlist by saving videos for later to reduce my doom-scrolling hours
Managing challenges
Spending a lot of time on social media makes me begin comparing myself with others, and this affects my mental health sometimes. I try to use it, instead, as a good way to challenge myself.
Another big challenge is when I find it difficult to batch content, it takes more time to create than I presumed, and the whole thing eats into my sleep time. I'm still trying to figure this out.
Promise
For work purposes, I basically spend the whole day on my phone since I work remotely. I'm always online.
To be productive, I create a schedule on Excel, For double measure, I set timers and alarms depending on how many hours I planned to spend on each task.
This helps me stick with my schedule. I know there are apps, but I prefer using alarms because some of those apps are not free.
The only challenge is the impact staring at a screen for a long time has on my eyes.
