A minute spent on channels like Instagram, snapchat and Pinterest is another minute into the lives of others I wish to emulate. I’m talking about those who sit outside my circle; the social media influencers I access all with the touch of the search symbol. These influencers are like celebrities who sit in the trending list and promise to fulfil our browsing time with endless snippets of their days, dinners and wardrobes.

I think I’ve become an addict. I go through 15 minutes of a catch up whenever I get a moment’s break from work (which revolves around building social media strategies).

I call it ‘the absorption process’. I come across people who seem to be setting a great example either with their exercise/diet regimens, photography, hair – anything that reflects a healthy lifestyle which I would like to make my own, and then I follow them.

After this, life is never the same. I’m constantly riddled with questions about whether so-and-so would eat what I ordered, whether they would have as many rest days from the gym as me or  if they too have an endless number of Friday nights on the couch with the flix on…

It begins to feel as if the people on social media I know so much about (but have never met) are co-existing with me. And that’s practically the whole point. At least in the world of retailing and branding. 26% of purchasing behaviour around the world is influenced by social media influencers.

Following influencers is not a bad thing. People do go on about how you’re supposed to surround yourself with ‘wonderful’ people. But don’t you lose a sense of yourself?

In the pursuit of putting an end to this addiction, I have set up a social media challenge.

It revolves around the idea of using social media as a way of recording life for the sake of reflection – not for audiences of friends or random browsers. Idols shouldnt have to be collected, life doesn’t have to be projected differently to what it is.

This month I will record what I really eat, how I style my hair and what I actually wear on a Sunday morning.

My social feed will probably be quite uneventful….

But maybe it will seem very interesting in the years to come.