Things are not what they used to be.
Facebook was launched the year I graduated high school – around 20 years ago. (YIKES!) I joined within a year or so. Before that, it was Myspace. And 95 percent of the world’s internet users now use social media. Like anything, there are positives and negatives to social media. Too much of anything (including water) is a bad thing. And on the other hand, millions of small business owners and content creators make a living as business owners. However, for millions of others who struggle to “trend set” or conform to the algorithm madness – we’ve genuinely felt trapped on social media.
The obvious positives from social media:
I’ve connected with people all over the world through social media. Friends, that I hold dear to my heart and people I think of often. I’ve learned about all manner of things – including mental wellness, different perspectives on leadership, validation of my neurodivergence, new insights into other cultures, and the importance of challenging the status quo.
What it’s become for me:
Social media has lost the connection piece for me. It’s become divisive and distracting.
Just like newspapers, tabloids, magazines, television and radio… it’s now monetized in a way that doesn’t serve us, as users. Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok… they all work the same way.
Collect data and segment users. The more segments and data – the better we understand our users. The better we understand them the better we can make our platform which will make them spend more time. The more time they spend, the more money we make from advertising.
I know that the algorithms on each platform (including Google) reward content that people react to. Reactions, comments, and shares bring other users to the platform, and the more users who spend more time, the more ad space there will be. We literally give our viewership away while social media companies build revenue by selling ad space to organizations and businesses that are more likely to reach a specific buyer’s market. Now users view endless content and spend hours a day consuming information. (Not that we didn’t before with Television)
Billions of people are on social media… billions and trillions of dollars are being funneled into social media platforms…
Distractions – that’s what social media is.
Now let’s chat about the impact of social media on mental health. A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems, and FOMO.
I have a social media presence but there are thousands of connections across my different platforms. Thousands of people that I can’t keep meaningful or beneficial relationships with because who can connect with that many people deeply?
In 2016 I wanted off of social media but I stayed because I own a business… In the last two years, I’ve tried different things to make it work, but the truth is, I’m not built for social media. And, I’ve done a lot of work in the past year preparing to remove myself, creating other ways for people to connect with me and I’ve stopped trying to understand the algorithms and the “should’s” of social media marketing.
#Breathemore
In 2024 – I decided that my phrase/word of the year was #breathemore – As I have been dedicating my life over the last year to this catchy phrase, I’ve been trying to assess what in my life catches my breath, causes disruptions to my peace or causes distractions that prevent me from focusing on breathing more.
I’ve realized that engaging in social media prevents me from #breathingmore, Distracts me from the actual important elements of my business, and dilutes the relationships I have with people to memes that don’t have anything to do with our friendship. (I’m not talking to my pebblers who I not only have a meaningful relationship with but who I trade memes with me that are pertinent and important to our friendships. – I mean the “here’s a newsfeed share from some other video that probably means little to you.”)
Because I’ve realized it’s distracting, I have decided that I will no longer be joining you all on social media. I haven’t yet decided to the lengths I am going to lower my usage, but right now the only thing that feels really good is to walk away completely from all platforms. So that’s my plan, and we’ll see how it works out.
How can I stay in business?
Most people think that you have to be on social media as a small business. This idea is so deeply rooted in our beliefs, that many small business owners struggle with the idea of walking away. Including me. Because I am a small business owner and I do believe that having a business page lends credibility, I’ve taken some time to understand how to automate these processes. I’ve learned from some very successful hub members, who are also business owners, that I don’t NEED a social media presence to attract business. While I will be posting from a scheduling app called SocialBee and from my blog with Missinglttr, I won’t be logging in frequently to check on comments.
There are so many other ways to connect with people regularly, to sell, and to create raging fans of your business. If you’re a business owner, I want to invite you to turn off social media as well. I’ve heard from a few clients that they feel that their only social life is on social media, but I encourage you to just walk away for a while. Turn off your notifications, delete the app from your phone, and see how often you feel the need to connect with the people on your accounts. If you feel that connecting with them is important, I’m happy to show you how to build a community site that will connect those that you want to connect with. Or better yet, I want to invite you to a community of inspiring and helpful people, that includes a library of training and resources for any area of life. You can bring your own friends too. Click here for more info.
So, should we connect?
I genuinely want to connect with friends and family in a better environment. So, if you want to connect with me more deeply… have rich conversations, and get involved in creating a community that makes a difference – outside of social (or on it.) I invite you to join our community on the Perspective Shifters Hub.
The other ways you can stay in touch are by subscribing to my blog or my newsletter list – these places, the hub, the blog, and the newsletter, will genuinely be the best way to know about updates to my life. I invite you to reach out and let me know if you want to chat one-on-one too – I will never turn down a virtual coffee (or other drink of your choice) chat.
What to expect from me now.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be sending out messages to those in my networks one platform at a time… Which is difficult and a lot of work. But I’m doing it because social media platforms only show your content to about 4% of people (if you’re lucky) which means this blog post which will automatically generate social posts – will only reach a handful of people and the rest of the work will be a manual effort. I’m excited to reach out because while I may see some of you on my feed, I don’t get a chance to connect with most of you often enough and that’s the work I WANT to put in. And at the very least, this will allow us to say hello.
Listen, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. And if you’re interested in doing things differently, let’s book a call.
And if nothing else, you can still find me right here on my blog.
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