It's not you. It's me.
Why I'm Breaking Up With Social Media
“It’s not you. It’s me,” I wrote on my final post on Instagram yesterday. It continued…
I have fallen out of love with social media. The thought of coming off it has plagued me for a while but I always found some silly reason to stay.
But I think the time is right to come off it. For the next year at least, I will try an experiment. I will come off Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and see if anything is added or taken away from my life as a result.
I hope to find time instead to read more, to learn more, and to give more of myself to my creative endeavours whether it be writing or podcasting.
I also think sometimes we must do the hard things. It is easier for me to remain on social media; to soak up the mess that is an unfiltered but highly skewed world we find on these apps but I would rather not. I cannot endure one more thread from someone who talks more than they do nor do I want to ingest any more hot takes from someone who has not read a history book since school.
Our world is, and can be, shaped by us. And I want mine to look different.
You can find me on here, Substack and you can follow the podcast on all major podcast platforms so please don’t be a stranger.
“I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.” Ayn Rand
Danielle
Ps latest podcast episode is out now — it’s a special one with the brilliant Riva Tez — Riva Tez on Genius, Mania and The Impact of Cancel Culture.
Real CTOs Disrupt | Complexity Science |
10 个月Never been on FB, Instagram, etc. Been on LinkedIn for about 15 years, but it's not what it used to be - far too many messages that are generated by software (chatGPT, Midjourney, etc.) I've become fatigued by it all, and generally ignore them. I've watched (listened to) stuff on the Internet for so many years now that I tend to listen to things at a faster speed ... except for people like Riva Tez, who naturally speaks at 1.5x !
Digital agency founder (B Corp)
10 个月I'm sure you won't look back. I binned most of them off one by one, mainly because they disorientate and distort relationships, past and present. I know why I'm on LinkedIn. It can present similar problems, but at least I know why I'm here: to learn, share, connect, reconnect, debate, support - always in a business relationship setting. WhatsApp, however, I have a cautious relationship with, for exactly the same reasons I don't use Facebook and Instagram. Forging, developing, maintaining - and moving on from - relationships is learned from infancy. Social media didn't enhance any of those life skills for me, and I didn't see it enhancing anyone else's either. Also, as a father of 3 gen-Zs, I've seen first-hand how destructive social media can be. None of these channels reflect the nuances of natural language. When they're the primary channels of someone's communication, especially during the young formative years - that can't be good.
50 + Choices (Policy Official) at Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
10 个月FB two years now and Instagram about a year although mine originally started as a safeguarding concern i.e being looked up or located through photo tags etc. At that time it was easy to create numerous accounts with no vetting requirements. Linkedin also asks for locations which you can't seem to make private but you can put anything in there. It's the only platform I now use for work.
CRO SIMCEL | I enable financial and supply chain professionals to simulate the future using AI and digital twin technology.
10 个月Smart move, Danielle Newnham. I really like your profile. Let's connect. I have dropped you a connection request.