A few weeks ago, Ailsa (of Frosted Feather Yoga) and I were having one of our usual coffee and catch-up sessions (although this particular catch up session consisted of cider instead of coffee - Yoga is all about balance anyways...)
We got onto the subject of social media and particularly Instagram. You see, this is how we became friends; I slid into her DM's as some would say. Ailsa was telling me all about this influencer who had decided to go on a 'social media cleanse' and we came to the conclusion that we literally could not afford to do such a thing...
Social Media. You are great. You have times where you take us away from our real lives, and sometimes it can be hard to come back to reality. But when you are used for your intended purpose, to connect, then you are great and we love you for that.
I have made so many friends, particularly in the Bristol Yoga world, through Instagram and I know a lot of my fellow teachers and friends will say the same. Personally it has been a wonderful way for me to connect with people, who my shy and fairly socially-awkward self can struggle with. I have connected with people from all over the country, and I have also been able to explore different styles of Yoga and look into teachers from all over the world that I would never have been able to do without social media. So for that I am truly grateful.
But why do people go on social media cleanses?
We spend so much of our time on social me and it doesn't always have positive connotations. It can affect our sleep, make us anxious, take us away from real life, and we can turn into phone obsessed, thumb tapping voids. It's no wonder that social media cleanses are so appealing right now.
I will be honest, I have been so tempted soo many times. I spend too much time glued to my phone and I know it. I wish I had more control but I don't. But, this is where we get to the point of this blog, I can't afford to go on a social media cleanse.
Myself and Ailsa started discussing this and the idea that we couldn't afford to go on a social media cleanse. We are both Yoga teachers. We both have other jobs on the side, I work part-time as a receptionist and do a spot of freelancing and Ailsa does some freelance work for a marketing company.
However, we are still building our Yoga businesses. I have been teaching for just over a year now, so I'm still pretty new to the game. Since starting teaching I have always used social media to help market my classes. I post my timetable on Facebook, I share Yoga pictures on Instagram and I will share this blog post on Facebook, Instagram and share it in my newsletter. I love using social media for my business and it works really well. A lot of people have found my classes through Facebook and I still have people saying 'I saw your Reggae Yoga class on Facebook', and that will always be cool. Social media has really helped me grow my business to what it is, and it hasn't cost me money, just a bit of time.
Now I'm obviously not one of those 'insta-influencer' people, but I honestly worry how it would affect my business if I went on a social media cleanse. My workshops would not fill up if I didn't market them on Facebook, and I think my classes would take a big hit. So as someone who is still building their business and classes, I just can't afford to go on a cleanse. It's too scary for a little ol' yoga teacher.
However, saying all this, social media cleanses can be a really beneficial and can be a really positive thing to do. They give you a moment to connect back to real life. They also show you perhaps how dependent you are on your phone giving you a chance to connect back to you. So maybe social media cleanses are healthy. But then again, maybe instead of having a cleanse, perhaps we just moderate our usage. Cut down a little. Put our phones on do not disturb. Pop them in our bags. Don't let them be the first thing we look at / do when we wake up.
What do you think?
Libby elm x
