Should We Announce Social Media Breaks?

"I'm taking a month long social media break. See you all later!"

They may not use those exact words, but more and more people are taking some significant amount of time off social media (for a variety of reasons) and they announce it to all their followers. But is that necessary?

An influencer I greatly respect shared her thoughts on this and basically said, "you don't own anyone and explanation". Not to be harsh, but if you need a break, take a break. They'll understand or they'll leave. I think that works for the personal account owner, but what about businesses or influencers?

This same woman has announced her breaks if they are long. She's explained that she'll be off completely or stopping certain things she usually does for some period of time. As a follower, I appreciate that she does this. If she just up and disappeared off of Instagram, her followers would be worried about her and start messaging or emailing her to make sure she and her family were okay. She has regular things she does on social media and people would ask her "are you doing that today?" or "when is that coming back?" because they are used to it. Should we just wait patiently? Maybe. Are we being demanding by asking? I don't know.

I personally think that, as a business or influencer, you can say something bigger if you DO announce your breaks and the reasons for it. Social media is a great tool but has drawbacks and a big one is you can get addicted. So if you say, "I'm taking a month off (name your favorite platform or maybe it's all platforms) because I see that I am addicted to it. I am going to do X, Y, Z and get my priorities straightened out", that shows your followers you value and prioritize other things, that you recognize when your boundaries are failing, and that you have boundaries and priorities in the first place. Maybe it will cause them to look at their own usage of social media and how it affects their life.

In no way do I see taking a break as saying you don't value online community. But I do think it is okay to say that your family and the community physically around you holds a high priority to you. That's how it should be. You can do more for the people around you than you can the people online. I've learned a lot about boundaries for social media and prioritizing your real life over online presence. 

I'm going to say something honest and hope it doesn't sound harsh - when people I follow have announced social media breaks, after a little while, I don't notice they aren't there anymore. That doesn't mean I don't care about them because I'm always happy when they come back, but even if your favorite person you follow takes a break, you have other people you follow and interact with and you just give more attention to their posts.

Social media breaks are good. For short or long, they can help you look at priorities and values and maybe refocus. Obviously, you decide what is necessary and what works for your following, but I think that while it's not that you OWE your followers and explanation, it is a courtesy and maybe even a good example to say you're leaving and why. It could help one of those people who have chosen to let you have a say in their life.

What do you think? To announce or not to announce. That is the question :)