Social media can be a gold mine for online entrepreneurs and business ventures. Over the years, it has helped bring businesses new projects, grow brands, build communities, and boost marketing efforts… But just as everything good has a bad side, social media has its.

The addictive nature of social media is one of the major reasons why it constitutes a major distraction at work, hence making it a dangerous hindrance to efficiency and productivity. An individual might schedule 15 minutes to spend on social networks and after a long period, he realizes he has unconsciously spent 2 hours pointlessly surfing the internet. Such distractions make it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. This calls for a need to perform some ‘checks and balances’ on the usage of social media because unless you’re a social media manager or influencer, succumbing to social media addiction won’t pay your bills.

Below are some actions you can take to avoid social media distractions at work.

1.TURN OFF ALERTS AND NOTIFICATIONS:  Constant notifications are minor things that can hinder you from getting more important things done. Social Media notifications from desktop and mobile devices can cause massive distractions and possibly make an individual lose track of time. Devices can be put on ‘silent’ or set to ‘do not disturb’, to curb the possibility of distractions during an important activity.

2. CREATE A DAILY TO-DO LIST AND STICK TO IT: At the beginning of each day, try creating to-do lists or daily deliverables, highlighting your tasks from the most important to the least important. Having done this, you will be able to monitor and keep tabs on everything you’re supposed to do. Nothing worthwhile comes easy, so you have to be disciplined enough to always stick to your list.

3. PLAN A SPECIFIC TIME DAILY TO INTERACT WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS: You may need to schedule your interaction times on social media. This means you don’t just respond to comments or messages as they come but only respond at the scheduled time. This could be in the middle of the day during your break time, or at the end of the day before you go to bed. Scheduling social media interactions requires a lot of discipline and as such, it can be really difficult to stick to… But if this action is taken seriously, a massive increase in productivity is guaranteed.

4. PRACTICE THE ONLINE QUARANTINE: This means the restriction of certain online activities to prevent distractions. The online quarantine tools allow you to set daily limits for yourself and notifies you when it’s time to go offline. Online quarantine tools are also called focus tools. some examples of such tools include; freedom, new feed eradicator, boomerang, etc. These tools are also called focus tools

5. CONSTANTLY FILTER YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS: Irrelevant messages and tweets can also bring about distraction during work hours. The best way to deal with this type of distraction is to filter them out completely. You can achieve this by unfollowing those that are not providing value, nor adding to your growth on social media.

6. TURN OFF YOUR INTERNET: If internet access isn’t essential for your current task to be completed, it is advisable to turn it off so you can avoid unnecessary distractions. Doing this helps ensure that unwanted ads or the likes wouldn’t pop up during your creative process thereby throwing you off your game.

Social media is awesome and such a great place to be but the moment it starts interfering in your activities and as such decreasing your productivity, there is a need for check and balance.