Social Media Know How From A Mom Who Knows How

Guest Post By Rachael Brandt. You can check out her blog So Loved here. Follower her on Instagram  @so.loved.co. She's our newest cyber friend and we love following her day to day posts.

Is social media good or bad? This is a question that has been asked a million times and will continue to be discussed forever. The way I see it, social media is a monster really, a monster with two heads:
1. Where you get sucked in and compare and compete.
2. Where you find inspiration, challenge, support, and friendship.

The first head to this beast is ugly. It makes us want what we don't have, think others lives are easier, pretties, and just plain better than ours. This head is dangerous and way too easy to get sucked into. The second head to the monster is the sweet spot. This is where you go to find inspiration, see good that others are doing, and to be encouraged.

Social media is this strange, wonderful space where people oceans apart can develop and maintain friendships with someone they have never met and may never meet face to face. This is the sweet spot because it makes the world a little smaller. In this space you can feel you are not alone. You are not the only one with a messy house and dirty laundry; wild children and unwashed hair. You can find people with similar stories, journeys and life experiences. you can help to encourage others dreams and be encouraged in your own as well.

Ultimately it all comes down to balance. Balance is the key to most things in life so why would social media be any different? Although the friendships that can be formed are good and helpful they should not replace those face to face friendships in our lives. If you find you are more discouraged than encouraged by a feed, unfollow!

For me it has come down to just finding time to be on social media and time to power down. I want to make sure my kids remember my face and not just the top of my head as I look down at my phone or computer all day long. I find that the benefits of social media far outweigh the bad as long as there is balance!

Lets just be honest for a minute, we put our best on social media for the world to see. Nine times out of ten you see the happy and not the sad, scared, or ugly. I think if we keep this in mind it will keep us from becoming overwhelmed with how "simple" or "normal" or "worse" our lives seem compared to "everyone" else.

I also believe there are seasons to our interaction with social media. I was way more involved when my first daughter was a newborn and I had just left work to stay hom... with a sleeping baby. While she slept I found DIY activities, and other mom's who encouraged me that this "new normal" would in fact feel normal someday soon.

Now that I have a 1 and 2 year old my social media interaction is slightly less. I use it for my business networking and finding encouragement that I am not the only mother still battling baby weight, toddler attitudes, sleep schedules etc... I still come across those people who would rather suck the good out of the world rather than add joy to it, just like in real life, but those are the people I choose not to associate myself with.