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How Do You Balance Social Media in Your Career?

dev.to staff on January 29, 2024

Balancing the use of social media for professional growth is crucial. How do you maintain a healthy relationship with social media in the tech worl...
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Ben Halpern

I mostly just use social media to keep up with some of the friends and family I care most about and otherwise have some career-oriented use — but try to avoid the major gap in the middle which is just "crappy dopamine hit".

Easier said than done, but I think I manage mostly by trying to be aware of this dynamic and focus on important things in my life that have nothing to do with the Internet.

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Anmol Baranwal • Edited

I've never used Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or other popular platforms. And neither plan to!

Not even Discord; I started using it 1.2 years ago. I was a ghost 2 years back, and I only started using Discord to be part of communities.

Plus, I do it whenever I can — no promises, and no time commitments. It's just optional for me.

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Ben Sinclair

I don't use social media for any kind of professional things. I use it to keep in touch with people I know, for casual coversation, and to scream into the void.

I do follow some tech-related accounts here and there, but I rarely interact. It's more like, "oh, here's an interesting CSS tip", and I'll give it a thump of the whatever-it's-called emoji button.

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val von vorn

Best not use social media at all from Monday to Friday!

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Andrew Baisden

I find social media is great for meeting like-minded developers and I have personally found lots of work opportunities because of it. So I am trying to be active on as many platforms as possible. Currently, X (Twitter), Threads and LinkedIn because that's where my biggest audience is.

I am trying to post at least 3 times a day and engage with as many people as possible. There is a lot of content out there though so it's important to manage your time wisely and not be on there 24/7 because then we can't get any work done 😅

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Isaac Klutse

I'm a content creator and a blogger, but I know when to put the phone down and do other stuffs.

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Oscar

The only social media that I'm actively on is Dev.to and Discord (unless watching YouTube counts as social media). I don't use anything else because social media is generally a waste of my time, and I feel like it gives me a very small amount of patience, just because of the whole "dopamine hit" thing.

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Marissa B

Other than browsing LinkedIn once a month, social media doesn't touch my career. I use it for my side gigs, but those are just for fun.

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Marya Alamzeb

I've experienced a major productivity boost by deleting all social media apps. I've kept LinkedIn but with notifications muted, maintaining a professional touch. This method trims distractions, letting you concentrate on crucial tasks. Give it a try for a more intentional and streamlined digital experience.

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Dan

I don't hahaha it's a problem

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Stefan Moore

Easy when I get to it.

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Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard

I balance it by shutting down social media, it's a net negative for me by a huge margin.