Welcome to Part 3 of our 5-Part series on how to improve your job search from home, in your sweats, without killing your kids or spouse. In Part 1 we discussed linking in with as many relevant people as possible to get 1st and 2nd connections. In Part 2 we highlighted blogging for thought leadership. In Part 3 we discuss limiting your social media consumption.
Part 3: Limit Your Social Media Consumption
The media is so seducing. Sex, death, panic, money are all topics that sell well. The problem for a job seeker is that these topics just create additional anxiety. Not like “not having a job” or “having a job you hate” isn’t bad enough.
Social media is not negative. However, when you focus too much on the negative, it becomes dangerous for your mental and physical health. Check out 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health in a recent Forbes article.
Great tactics to limit your media consumption:
- Choose news outlets that are relatively objective in their reporting
- Limit your daily consumption to less than 1 hour
- Limit your consumption on a small screen like a phone to save your eyes
- Don’t read the news before going to bed or when you first wake up
Limit your COVID 19 Consumption
We all want to be “in the know” about what is happening. If you are like me, at times, I let all the details of “which country has this number of cases” or “did the WHO help or hurt” seduce me. However, COVID news is horribly inconsistent, discusses today’s facts as if one day is a trend, and is skewed politically.
For every news article about the great work of people on the front line, there are at least 10x horrible articles about death and destruction. There is no balance since negative news sells. Let’s be realistic unless you are a data scientist, do all the statistics really help you maintain a balanced perspective?
In a NYT article “Managing Coronavirus Fears”, Jane Brody starts the article with “invisible enemy now bearing down on 328.2 million Americans, is tailor-made to induce fear and anxiety, prompting both rational and irrational behavior and, if the emotional stress persists, perhaps causing long-lasting harm to health.” The article discusses what happens to our body when we worry too much. However, she gives great advice including:
- Give charity directly for the people on the front line
- Clean up your refrigerator and other neglected areas of your home
- Give away old books if you never intend on reading them again
When I read the article, I see the NYT COVID update links in the middle of the article! I am reading an article by the NYT about managing my stress which they are then increasing by throwing these links at me! That makes as much sense as applying for jobs online or watching fungus grow (unless that becomes the cure).
Be knowledgeable, but be balanced.
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