Can a Social Media Manager Quit Social Media?

I've had it with social media and I'm thinking about quitting. Well, kind of. Let me explain. As a public relations professional, I naturally started managing social media for my company in 2008. My role in social grew, while my role in public relations became less as the focus shifted. The past few years have seen so many changes. I love the excitement and learning new things. But the negative side can make anyone lose focus, especially if you're online 24-7 like most social media managers. Here are some of my biggest social media gripes and how to fix them:

Brands posting for a negative response. 
This is probably comparable to the any PR is good PR tactic. I *was* a Facebook fan of one of my favorite Websites. But, they consistently post images of one celebrity they know will get a response, a negative response. They'll post "Doesn't *celebrity name* look cute," or something similar. And, after watching their feed for days, you know that they know their post will bring out the keyboard courage internet trolls slamming her/him. Social media managers, at least in my experience, are under the gun to get more likes, more comments and more eyes on posts. But at what cost. Content is key...don't lose your audience or forfeit your company values for more likes. Figure out how to get there positively!

Private people putting private people in the public eye. 
It's one thing to post your own dorky selfies-that's you posting about yourself. I'm okay with that. But, when did it become okay to take random photos of people, post them on your social media site and make fun of them. Yesterday in my Instagram feed, a grown man posted a photo of an older woman and a young girl...making fun of their clothes. When did this become okay. Granted, this has been going on a while, just look at the People of Wal-Mart Website. But before, I could just ignore the Website. Now, it's everywhere, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. We are a bullying society, yet we say we say we take a stand against bullying! Uh, I don't think so. We all have the power to make this simple change-just put the camera/iPhone/Android down.

Brands not responding at all. 
And, okay this one doesn't really make me want to quit social media. BUT, it does make me want to help these brands! If you're going to be on social media, BE on social media. I recently found out about a new product through a promotion they did with a tech site. I had a question about that product that I couldn't find through Google, so I reached out to that company first through it's Website support with no response, then to Twitter with no response, then to Facebook private messaging with no response, then to the Facebook wall with no response. In the past couple of months, this has happened to me twice. If you can't keep up with social media, don't be on those sites. Now, I know it's hard...but if you have to scale down, do one thing and do it well.

Ultimately, the truth is that I just can't quit social media. It has helped me through the pain of losing my beloved dog, reconnected me with my 5th grade best friend, given me insight into the lives of people in a different way and given me an outlet for creativity in a new way. Although I don't know how my role in public relations or social media will change in the next five years, I'm hopeful.