February 10, 2026
If you work in social media, staying informed isn’t optional. It’s part of the job. Trends, platform changes, cultural moments, crises, memes, conversations, they all shape what we publish and how it’s received. Being aware of what’s happening in the world helps us create content that’s relevant, sensitive, and credible.
But here’s the part that rarely gets said out loud: being constantly plugged in can slowly wear you down.
There are days when working in social media feels less like communication and more like shouting into the void. You plan, write, design, post… and the response is silence. Other times, it can feel performative, almost surreal, like you’re smiling and promoting something while knowing the wider world is heavy, complicated, and anything but upbeat. That tension can be exhausting.
A lot of marketers quietly recognise the feeling that comes from that disconnect. It’s the same uncomfortable awareness people joke about when they reference The Truman Show, especially the scene where Truman’s wife cheerfully promotes cocoa mid-conversation. She’s technically doing her job. She’s polished, upbeat, and on message. But something about it feels deeply off, because the performance ignores the emotional reality of the moment.
Social media professionals can find themselves in a similar position. You’re expected to be timely, positive, and engaging, even when the context around you is anything but. Over time, that can lead to cynicism, emotional fatigue, or a sense of detachment from your own work.
This is where responsible consumption and professional well-being intersect.
Staying informed doesn’t mean absorbing everything at full intensity, all the time. In fact, that’s one of the fastest ways to burn out and lose the very curiosity that makes someone good at this job. When your energy is constantly drained by endless feeds, breaking news, and algorithm-driven urgency, professionalism starts to slip. Not because you don’t care, but because you care too much without recovery time.
Professionalism in social media isn’t about pretending nothing affects you. It’s about knowing when to engage deeply and when to step back. It’s about understanding context without letting it overwhelm your nervous system. It’s also about recognising that not every post has to carry emotional weight. Sometimes clarity, usefulness, or quiet consistency is enough.
There’s also value in separating your “work feed” from your personal one, at least mentally. When everything blends together, it becomes harder to tell whether you’re researching, reacting, or simply scrolling out of habit. That blur is often where disassociation creeps in, not dramatically, but subtly, through numbness and autopilot behaviour.
Saving your energy is not unprofessional. It’s what allows you to stay sharp, empathetic, and thoughtful over time. It’s what helps you write copy that sounds human rather than hollow, and create campaigns that feel intentional rather than forced.
Social media marketing works best when it’s grounded in awareness, not performance for performance’s sake. The goal isn’t to smile through the noise. It’s to communicate with honesty, timing, and respect, for the audience and for yourself. Because the more sustainably you consume information, the longer you can stay engaged with it. And in a role built entirely around attention, that might be the most professional skill of all.