Manage your mental health while managing the social networks of a newsroom.

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Manage your mental health while managing the social networks of a newsroom.









This story is from Kaiser Health News.




Like many people in today's society, we know that we spend too much time online, but as social media administrators it is our job to be there. Social network managers, a position that had not been heard a decade ago, experience tremendous stress.

Social networks can be a toxic place, especially for those who work in that space. Socially angry users seem to forget that a human being is behind the account of the brand they are shouting or the story they criticize.

At the most recent conference of the Online News Association in Austin, Texas, I asked the editors of social media, "How does your mind manage? Health While managing social networks? "The universal answer was:" Wow. That's a very good question. "I quickly realized that we shared experiences, anxieties and coping mechanisms, up to and including records with mental health professionals.

We spent countless hours online not only programming tweets, but also sharing and reading comments, analyzing the analyzes and creating reports on the reach and growth of the audience. We enjoy seeing our stories go viral, provoking a lot of discussion and increasing our followers. But it is a lonely and, often, frightening place. Our professional profiles, whether public or private, often lead to harassment and abusive online attacks.

Social network managers see the best of the internet and the worst. It is hard not to feel it personally.

"It's designed to hurt," said Tracey Spencer, a psychologist in Washington, DC, to whom I asked for advice. "That's what bullies do, these people are projecting their own feelings and insecurities, and they probably do not know how to be empathetic." What they say has nothing to do with you.

So, how do we who are in this small but growing profession maintain our balance and sanity while we continue to do our work?



Courtesy of Leroy Armstead
Chaseedaw Giles appears in this undated photo.

Erica Williams Simon, director of Creator's Snapchat Lab, told me that she gets "hate mail and I hate tweets just because I'm a black woman, people will attack you." Walks, prayer or meditation and art They help cope with the situation, he said, and also mentioned that Snapchat offers great benefits for its employees, including generous free time and free mental health services.

Simon does not get involved in hot topics, he is careful with what he retues and does not get carried away by toxic debates. "Internet is not my life, I'm responsible for how I use my voice online, it's like real life, do not join all the discussions or say everything you think in real life."

He also suggested that colleagues feed on good content after a particularly exhausting online day, and added: "Remember that you are seeing the worst in people and looking for the good ones."

When faced with a difficult day, Bobby Blanchard, publisher of social media for The Texas Tribune, said his managers support taking time for mental health. One of his tips was to put all the notifications on his mobile phone to "Do not disturb" after leaving work, a tip that Gene Park, a social media editor at The Washington Post, also shared. "My colleagues are watching me and I have to set a good example for personal care and healthy work habits. I do not want them to feel like they always have to be on fire, because they see me doing that. "The Texas Tribune social media team also uses Slack Messenger and has a dedicated channel to inform, discuss and block trolls from their accounts.

"Moving to London was a wake-up call," said Sari Zeidler, editorial director of growth for Quartz, a site that specializes in news from Africa and India. His manager was upset when he emailed ideas to employees after hours, he said. "It's very different from the American way, and it helped me create efficiency in my work here," said Zeidler. "I realized that I was working too much and not unplugging." Your advice: Set daily and manageable goals and block people who post hate speech or any type of harassment.

Even so, even if you block offenders and delete comments, you can not read their words. Insults and occasional racial insults persist long after the session is closed. Spencer reminded me to "try to stop internalizing offensive comments" and to make sure to focus on "real" life. She recommends configuring the parameters when you work and when you log out. "In any job you have, you have to make time for yourself."

I admit that when it comes to social networks, I sometimes operate with automatic pilot. I do not have my notifications configured for "Do not disturb" after work. I often review the comments, retweet things and check trends on Twitter when I can not sleep. Maybe I have to rethink that balance.

"There's only so much creative juice you have," said Blanchard of The Texas Tribune. "Part of being good at my job means disconnecting."

For those of us in (and outside of) the profession, I think that's the best advice.



Kaiser Health News is a non-profit news service that covers health problems. It is an independent editorial program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


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