by Alice Trimmer
How can we make our time on social media count? This was the theme of Katy Hinderer’s thought-provoking talk and discussion given on October 28, 2020. Katy, a social media influencer by profession, started by explaining just what that means. She works with brands and companies to have an impact on the decisions of others. While this can potentially be manipulative, it can also be a service. In fact, we are all influencers in some way. We recommend a restaurant where we enjoyed a meal or a new performing group we just discovered. Whether we do this on social media or through face-to-face conversations, our opinion counts. If the product or service is a good one, we naturally want to share that information. Whether we use social media primarily to engage up with friends and family, to share a hobby or skill, or to send updates to clients or customers, it is more than likely a big part of our lives, and one that most of us could profit from approaching with more intentionality.
Katy shared her PACT system for making the most of her social media presence. PACT stands for Purpose, Authenticity, Community, and Time. Starting with Purpose, we should ask ourselves two questions: Why do I have this app (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest) and how do I actually use it? It is worth digging into these questions because we can easily get in the habit of using social media apps to procrastinate or waste time, or to post content without really asking ourselves whether there is a good reason for doing so. If we find that an app no longer serves any useful purpose, we can just delete it.
The basis of Authenticity is to be true to one’s self. It is all too easy to present ourselves on social media as someone other than who we really are. We can also fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others (even relative strangers) and feeling a need to present ourselves in a certain way that might have little to do with our actual self. Katy recommended deleting or muting accounts that leave you not feeling “good enough.”
We can easily appreciate the advantages of connecting as a Community through social media, with its rapid two-way communication. Social media apps are great tools for human connection but they can also become highly divisive. We can ask ourselves, before creating or sharing posts: Is this true? Does it need to be shared? Is it unkind or hurtful to anyone? Apps are the result of technology, but we can never forget that there are real persons on the other side reading and being affected by our posts.
The last aspect of PACT is Time. People tend to vastly underestimate the time that they spend on social media. The teams that develop apps specifically design them in ways that keep their users engaged, but there are ways to control technology from eating up too much of our time by, for example, turning off notifications or setting screen time limits.
Katy dug into each of these areas with great depth and a wealth of personal experience. If you missed her session or would like to review it, it is posted here.