As a blogger, your social media presence is a part of your work. Your existence on social media helps your blog somewhere either by contributing to blog traffic or updating your audience, whatever the goal is, social media has been an important element for a blogger.
But, at this point, I hate social media. Sorry if my words come in too strong but itβs true. The thought of me being on a social platform is exhausting.
It started in 2010β¦
I created my social media account back in 2010 (Facebook) and then new platforms came in including Instagram and, like every other teenager, I created my account without a second thought. I still donβt know why I created those accounts or felt the urge to be on social media.
Years passed by and I always had an on/off experience with social media. Random strangers popping into my accounts, relatives making weird comments, and whatnot. Even though over the years I dreaded being on social media, it never really crossed my mind to get off and delete those accounts.
I am not denying the fact that social media helped me meet and connect with some of the best people I have in my life but over the years, the crowd of social media, and the privacy over there, just went down the drain.
Every time I posted something on social media, it became a source of negative and taunting comments from my close people (relatives).
I used to share pictures of my nail art and paintings but they never really had something decent to say about it.
Next, because my friend list consisted of my schoolmates, suddenly, whatever I shared acted like a broadcast and everyone knew everything. π
β I was a stupid teenager I wish I had some real guidance. π₯²
I was under the wrong influence
I used to see my classmates and cousins having a huge list of connections, updating everything to social media, having boyfriends and girlfriends and all of this affected me in a way that I am a part of this too/ or social media is a part of my life and I will be doing something wrong if I did not do what these people did.
By then, you can imagine that social media had already affected me.
I started my creator journey on social media β along with my blog
Years passed by, I graduated and this was the time (2016) I started my journey of Blogging. Till then, I was on social media for my own use, you can say but the moment that βinfluencerβ thing started to make waves, I thought maybe I could do the same with my Instagram as well.
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This goes without saying that I enjoyed that phase a lot, met a lot of people in my industry, and built some great lifelong connections but as expected, I received insulting and taunting comments from relatives.
I just donβt get it β why do some people need to be on social media, be on their friend list, stalk everything they do, and then act like they have no clue about it? But in reality, they have already broadcasted everything to other people and are ready to serve your comments in real life.
I was like, canβt I just remove my close connections from my social profiles and use it as my work profile only? That is when I realized I made the biggest mistake of using those social accounts I made in 2010 for my blog use in 2016. I should have created new profiles!!
Over the years, I had this thought so many times to remove my close connections and keep the follower list limited to followers of my blog and Instagram content. But, I couldnβt do so. Why? Because I was obviously way too afraid thinking about what my relatives would say now?
A revolution of reels came in, and the quality of the crowd degraded
I continued my journey on social media and then came the revolution of vertical videos. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, reels sort of acquired the whole internet. Within a few years, the concept of social media took a major twist and the crowd of social media became so cheap that it became exhausting for me to be on those platforms consuming content in my own personal time.
I stopped posting on social media!
There were so many factors. I did not feel like posting on my accounts where my close connections would see my content first and make judgments.
I did not feel like being on those platforms where this random cheap content is now taking over social media and many other thoughts.
Cut to 2024, I decided to remove all my personal connections from my social accounts and start putting my energy back into creating content like a dedicated creator.
Of course, my blog is my primary but being on social media was important too (at least in my mind) and simply updating about my new articles on social media wasnβt helping. If I had to gain views and grow my accounts, videos, and reels were the only option.
But that too, did not help with my mental peace.
The thought of Instagram drained my energy
I had a moment of relief, for sure, after removing all those stalking connections but still, something was bothering me. It had come to a point that every time I opened my IG, my DMs were full of reels from my friends and I too started to spend a major chunk of my time scrolling reels.
Every time I saw a reel, it somehow affected me. Reels of accidents and fake news and whatnot started to flow on my feed and I just couldnβt have it any longer.
I know that for a lot of people, Instagram is engraved to their core, and for some, itβs crucial for their business but for me, it was not working.
I continued to tell myself that I needed to continue posting and didnβt care about the crowd because if I stopped posting on the gram, how would Brands see my work?
Not too late, my content started getting low engagement and videos like someone drinking sewage water (not kidding) and doing π© things started to become more viral. I was literally having headaches with the thought of opening Instagram.
By then, I had already stopped operating my Facebook and Twitter. They were active, but I wasnβt actively posting on them except for my article links.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that during this phase, I had already scheduled my Snapchat for deletion because I was too tired of my friends constantly reminding me to send photos for a streak!! (God!!!)
Over all this time, I had this thought of deleting my IG and starting fresh a zillion times. I created new accounts so many times but deleted them eventually because who has the energy to start from scratch when there is an existing account with years of hard work, connections, and everything.
The moment was here β DELETE EVERYTHING
But one fine day, I just couldnβt bear this overthinking anymore because I was no longer interested in posting on my accounts anyway AND, I scheduled all my social accounts for DELETION!!
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), and even this newbie in town, Threads which I actually grew to a great level β DELETE!
I had already removed these apps from my phone way back. I was only accessing them via desktop but that was the moment when I was like, GoodBye social media.
I can not tell the breeze of freshness and peace I felt after scheduling my accounts for deletion. The kind of calmness, unreal. π
That is when I realized I never needed those accounts, especially for my blog. My blog runs on its own pathway and the accounts that contributed to my blog traffic anyway were Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube. I donβt know what I was doing on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook over all these years when I was not even a social media content creator or influencer.
I can not explain in words how happy I am to be away from those apps, to not exist on those apps anymore, and the thought of me not being on those apps was truly satisfying.
I wondered if I should start fresh π₯Έ
Weeks later, these thoughts crossed my mind what if my readers want to connect with me over Instagram. Should I create new accounts?
After careful consideration, I decided to start fresh.
I created a new Instagram followed by threads. A few weeks later, I created a fresh Twitter and Facebook as well.
Between all this, I had already explored BlueSky, Minds, and Mastadon but that was not my thing and I had no energy to be on more social platforms even if it was purely for my work.
I spent so much of my time setting new Facebook and Twitter accounts, setting the bios, linking them to my blog β my eyes actually strained only to figure out this ainβt going to work.
Life is better off social media
Meanwhile, I read so many Reddit forums on how people found it calming and the best decision ever when they decided to get off social media. Literally, everyone was speaking my mind when they wrote that Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, all had gone down the drain be it their algorithm, or the fact that content is actually π© over there.
I just can not be on these platforms anymore.
I mean thank you Twitter and Threads for sending out a few clicks on my way but I am done.
I have lost count of the many times I reactivated my new Threads account only to delete it later.
As of now, I decided to keep my new IG simply for my readers to connect with me via DM in case they want and the new FB for me to connect with my hosting and theme groups. Thats it!
There are a few accounts that I would like to be connected with over IG. They all post the Indian religious and historical stuff so I am only there for their video updates and for my blog readers. Otherwise, I am not consuming any IG content.
I am definitely not spending my time and energy to post content or to consume content on Instagram anymore.
The social accounts that actually help me be it for my personal use or blog work are Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn. π
My LinkedIn newsletter gets huge traction and I get so many visitors from Pinterest and YouTube. These platforms donβt trigger me. π
Pinterest is actually the most beautiful and sensible platform, ever! π
Between all the deletion of my accounts, creating new ones deleting them again, and then reactivating them again only to delete them, again, I figured out social media does nothing except drain my energy. They have no contribution to my blog and I would rather watch a good YouTube video read a book or watch a web series rather than consume useless content over IG.
GOD, it feels great to be off social media.
Along with my blog, YouTube Shorts is the only platform where I post content.
I donβt know why it took me so long to figure out that I donβt need to be on social media be it for my blog or for my own use. I wish I had this sense and maturity back then. I wasted so much time.
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This means, I have wasted enough time in my life but I wonβt waste it anymore on useless things. I legit feel like crying over the thought of literally wasting my teenage and 20s, my precious time, over social media, over the anxiety of what my relatives going to say now β OH GOD!
I am hitting 30 soon and yes, I feel like I should have realized this sooner but I am also glad that I have come to the realization.
Over these past few years, the content has gone way worse than you can imagine. I feel mindless scrolling of reels is the worst thing you can do to yourself.
My only focus is my blog, my newsletter mailing list, and my YouTube. Of course, LinkedIn and Pinterest too but I am never ever going down the path of other social platforms. No thanks.
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Itβs not like YouTube and LinkedIn are all golden and clean. Itβs too full of people misusing the platform but YT is still helpful β a lot! And at least, they are constantly improving in my opinion.
I felt like I needed to share this on my blog, to let it out, to make it official. π
I am super grateful for everyone who has subscribed to my blog via the mailing list π
Here is to a clean, fresh, and beautiful blogging journey π
That was it for today. I hope my words connected to you in one or other way. Feel free to drop your thoughts in the comments below. Until next time. Have a Good Day. π
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