Two years ago, I took two month long breaks from social media. It was glorious and I missed nothing while I was off of it. There were many benefits, which I described in my blog post: 9 Reasons Why You Should Quit Social Media. Yet somehow I’m back scrolling on Instagram and TikTok like I was before… It weaseled it’s way back into my life. This is because I am addicted. It didn’t happen all at once, I slowly went on it more and more.
I have quit and started up again about 5 times now. The problem is, I am an all or nothing person, it is the way my brain is wired. I can’t set time limits for my socials, I just ignore them. Luckily, I am not addicted to anything else and don’t have an addictive personality, but social media for some reason is my Achilles heel.
I listened to an episode of The Mad Fientist Podcast where he had Dr. Cal Newport on, back when the episode was released. This led me to watch Cal’s TEDx talk about social media. Right after watching the video, I deleted all of my social media apps. In 2021, I even bought a book called “How to Break Up with Your Phone.” It worked for a while, but not going cold-turkey right away just doesn’t work for me, there were some amazing tips though and I highly recommend the book!
The main reason I went back on social media was to try to promote this blog. I am a writer, not a social media influencer. This doesn’t mean I’m a good writer, but I still am one ;). It turns out though, most people on social media want to stay on social media, not go find new blogs to read. I’ve also noticed I am spreading myself too thin again. Being active almost daily on Instagram, posting multiple times a week on TikTok, a weekly blog post, and writing & publishing a new e-workbook and site; it’s too much. It doesn’t help that if I open Instagram or TikTok once, I will be opening it 10 more times that day, wasting hours of my day.
I had a long conversation last night with my husband about this and I’ve decided to quit socials again, he is too. I will create Facebook ads to promote my new workbook, but I’ve never really liked scrolling on Facebook and don’t plan on sticking around after I make them. Once they are created, they just run automatically too. The only other reason why we use Facebook is to sell our belongings on there, which we will probably do once we complete our major spring declutter we have planned.
In light of these changes, I have updated my 2022 Goals post. I am only going to focus on this blog, improving the site for my e-workbook & creating ads for my e-workbook, and checking emails 3x a week. Other than that, I will be focusing on my health and relationships, that’s it.
I am so excited to say goodbye to social media, I hope it is the last time I do this.
As always, thanks for reading! ❤
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