The only consistent thing about New Year’s Resolutions is their lack of consistency. I don’t mean this personally, although that’s certainly true. Generally, changing our calendars gives us an excuse to evaluate our goals, make lifestyle adjustments, and/or existentially spiral.
I’m neither above New Year’s Resolutions nor beholden to the tradition. I am using the concept as a segway to talk about myself. Isn’t that their real purpose, anyway?
My online activity has been infrequent at best this past year. It was by design. I was frustrated with the amount of time I was spending looking at my phone. After watching too many Instagram Reels with tips about managing screen time for my toddler, I was ready to throw my own favorite screen out the window. I could rant excessively about the irony, but instead, I’ll say that deleting social media off my phone has only been positive. I made that change mid-year. Outside of a few lapses, it stuck.
As a new business owner, disconnecting from my main avenue of research and idea generation slowed much of my progress toward entrepreneurship. But in the long run, I’ve realized that quieting the noise is an important step in creating evergreen work.
If you’re also looking to decrease your screen time, something I highly recommend if you want to experience boredom for the first time in years, I would suggest:
- Deleting unnecessary apps off your phone. It’s all about opportunity. Forcing your mind to wander is essential to fostering creativity, and you can’t scroll through Facebook without access. You can’t necessarily make it productive creativity, but the songs I make up about my baby’s cute little feet really make her giggle. And that’s nice.
- No – really deleting them off your phone. After you start clicking through the Facebook logo in the Messenger app to sneakily access Facebook via browser, it’s time to tell friends and family that you cannot be reached on Messenger anymore.
- Finding a productive replacement. Sudoku, crosswords, Japanese lessons on Duolingo, accidentally making eye contact with strangers.
- Finding unproductive replacements. Did I need to watch all three seasons of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? No! But it did force me to watch commercials, which got me thinking about the success of different types of marketing campaigns. Progress is progress. Find it where you can.
- Reconsidering how you use social media and why. For years, I insisted social media was my avenue to keeping in touch with friends, family, and old coworkers. But most of my feed was former contestants from The Bachelor franchise.
- Having a second child. It’ll keep you too busy to look at your phone! What a perk!
Marketing myself as an online marketing expert while detaching from social media was a long game decision. Brands that last are the ones that rise above the thousand shiny, attention-grabbing moments that were making my head hurt. Same with marketing emails breaking through an inundation of Black Friday deals, and social posts that actually get you to clickthrough. We’re approaching a change where more people are exiting the hypersaturated attention market. Where will your target market’s attention be found in 2026?
The beginning of a new year gives us an opportunity to change. The beginning of a day gives us an opportunity to change. I’m excited to greet this year as another chance to make the most of my minutes and yours.