Are you being influenced negatively by social media?

Social media is part of our lives now. However much we say life was better without it in ‘the good old days’, those days are over and we have to embrace the changes that technology has bought.

Dance is all over social media. It’s totally normal to have a ‘dance account’ as a child dancer these days alongside a main Instagram account. Dancers as young as 6 or 7 have these accounts and often you see that they’re ‘managed by Mum’. There are dance challenges, dance tutorials, reels and dance giveaways everywhere on the internet and it’s hard to find the line as to where this is a positive influence and when it is beginning to have a negative effect towards your development.

As a teacher I see both sides of this balancing act. I know that sometimes I see things I want to try with my dancers online or see new events that I’d like to attend but then also it sometimes makes me doubt myself as a teacher and worry if I am pushing my dancers enough to get them as good as the things I see on these apps. I see it first hand in my students too, sometimes if I film something and they mess up they’ll say things like ‘Don’t post that anywhere’ or if they see a dancer online going to the same competition or event as them they’ll already close the door on their chances because they’ve seen them doing something that they can’t do. But, on the flip-side it's an amazing way to network and keep in touch with dancers (as usually these are from all over the country and you don’t get to see them very often), it’s also an amazing way to see the new trends coming out across the dance industry and those inspire dancers to work towards new skills and goals.

Use my these five checks below to make sure that you’re using social media in a positive way;

1. Only follow pages or people that bring you a positive inspiration. Any accounts that you follow that make you feel inferior are not worth following!

2. Leave your phone in your bag when you head to your dance classes. Then there is no urge to record moves to add to your profiles or reels. Dance is a long term learning process not a simple ‘get the move, film the move, post the move, move on’ cycle.

3. When you practice outside of class or at home don’t film what you’re doing. Practice to improve, not to post.

4. Avoid using social media before a competitions or exams, so you can be fully present in the moment rather than be extrinsically effected by what is going on elsewhere.

5. Use app features such as the save button to create folders of inspiration that you can go back to. Then you have control over when you choose to use the apps.

I fully believe that we can embrace the positives of social media to push us as dancers and dance teachers, it’s just more important than ever to be aware of what we’re using it for and how.