Here’s part two of my Q&A about quitting social media. This time we’re looking at more personal questions, as well as my take on social media for artist communities and as a learning tool. Read part one of the Q&A here, or my original post on why I quit social media from last year.
If you want to watch this Q&A as a video instead, you can do so here:
If you can’t see the video above, watch it here:
Let’s dive into the Q&A part two. For readability, questions are bolded, and my answers are marked below in interview-style.
Social Media as a Learning Tool and artist’s communities
Kim asked: I only maintain my Facebook account so the I can be part of specific artists‘ groups (eg. local urban sketchers, sketchbook revival, etc). How do you participate in events like this without social media?
Julia: First off, if you only use Facebook for certain things and ignore it the rest of the time, I don’t see why you shouldn’t keep the account for that (if you’re not against the concept of this platform). The trick is to be able to ignore the rest, and if it works for you, why not keep it for these activities. That’s something you have to decide. I tried this tactic for over a year and kept being pulled in, that’s why needed to pull the plug entirely.
One word though about these Facebook groups: What I’ve observed, and also heard from others, was that it can be quite overwhelming to be in large groups. There is so much being posted and shared all the time, and Facebook doesn’t present the posts in any linear or logical order. I didn’t enjoy it. So I never felt it was a particularly good learning environment, very fractured and the Facebook site has lots of distractions.
Lin asked: I have not taken the social media plunge and am feeling a bit pressured to do so as I begin offering creativity classes and workshops. I don’t want to, but also am exploring how to do this and develop what I have to offer.
Julia: This is a really interesting question for people who want to offer their own classes.
I don’t think you need social media for your classes, in the years I’ve done this I’ve gotten feedback from many people (in classes and from online events) who didn’t like posting their results on social networks – most people who are still learning feel pressured and are very self-conscious and compare themselves. So this is not the best learning atmosphere. Of course, there is always a number of people who is willing to post and share their work, no matter which platform.
I think email can be a terrific tool for personal, individual feedback – I’ve used this in the past for some of my classes and students always loved it and got a lot out of it. Even the people who were too shy to post anything publicly.
And there are a lot of free options for sharing pictures, chatting, and building community. You can offer your courses on platforms where all of this is combined for a fee, or you can build a custom solution yourself, or use different free services. I think these solutions are always worth a look especially if you value your privacy and the privacy of your students!
Personal changes after I quit social media
Sue asked: So will you continue without? Or will you start up the social media accounts again?
I’d like to know what you noticed the most. Did you get more done? Did you stay more focused on your goals? Did you feel healthier mind wise, less random stuff entering your mind and thoughts? Did you have a more positive outlook on life?
Julia: I will never return to social media. I honestly believe there are better ways to spend my time. I don’t want to look back on my life and admit that I didn’t do a lot more than scrolling through a feed while battling to stay creative and productive – which is what most days felt like.
And I also took this step because I don’t want to give Zuckerberg’s awful company any more data. The business models of these social networks are unethical, not to mention a huge privacy disaster. So I can’t go back even if I was okay with the aspect of wasted time.
What I noticed the most? Probably my anxiety levels. They went down considerably when I stopped consuming online feeds. And I don’t only mean social media, but also news which I consumed a lot of. I still read news today, but only one or two times a day, and on a static, neutral news site or on the radio.
Before I changed that I used to wake up with anxiety in the morning, and feel pressured and incompetent through the day, and these feelings were particularly strong when I checked my feeds. I was afraid of being such a bad artist that people would eventually find out. I always struggled to present something perfect and wonderful. And of course this can never work.
Because you’re still a normal person, and you still have bad days, and even if you’re a working artist, you still learn new stuff all the time. At least that’s how I like to see it. And even the pros fail sometimes or have bad days. And it’s good to know, and feel, that this is not the end of the world. But just another day, and you get to try again. On social media, you usually don’t share failed attempts, and that produces a lot of pressure. I also had a lot of anxiety of what was happening in the world, and although this has come back during the corona crisis, I now can handle it much better. So yes, my outlook on life, and on my art has gotten a lot better.
As for random thoughts and focus, I have to say this was still a problem for a while, because you can’t only change one thing, you have to look at your whole relationship to media and how you consume it. So because I kept reading news, it fractured my attention in a similar way, and it also caused anxiety. So I learnt I have to be careful not to spend too much time on that.
I had a system in place for a while when I tried out time blocking, so a set block of time for a specific task. This is described in one of Cal Newport’s books, Deep Work. It worked well, but I somehow stopped doing it. I want to establish that again.
Vickie asked: Would be fun to hear about what, in your taking away, was added. What came in between the spaces previously filled by the distractions, perceived ‘accepted’ social engagements, etc. I’m making assumptions here that will probably suggest a more spiritual, holographic experience of discovery of you and your interconnectedness with all that calls for you to notice… external and internal.
Julia: Indeed, I suddenly had more free time and time to think about what I really wanted from my life. And I realized it wasn’t staring at a small screen and refreshing a feed.
What did I do? I started reading a lot, around one book a week. I spent a lot of time in my vegetable garden and baking bread. I recently started working out again, and we went hiking a lot.
I also spent a lot of time just painting and sketching, for myself and for getting better at my skills, not for sharing anywhere, or at least not right away. And finally, I used the time to add new sketches and videos to my blog, I made new classes and tutorials for you to enjoy.
In the beginning I had to actively plan these things, because I tended to revert to this scrolling mode where I just wanted to consume. So I had phases where I turned the internet off and forced myself to read, etc. This doesn’t sound like fun in the beginning, but I had to relearn these behaviors. I still use internet blockers from time to time if I need to get important work done, or if I notice I’m slipping into this passive consumption mode.
I don’t know if I had a particular kind of epiphany or new kind of connectedness – I’m already pretty connected to nature. But I have to say I can better appreciate boredom and idle time now. I don’t fill every free second with scrolling through my profiles, and I believe this boredom is important time for personal development, for getting new ideas and impulses.
I’ve also learned that just following what everyone does and following advice about internet fame and likes is not for me and I’m happier with the bigger amount of freedom I get to have without focusing on followers and likes. I found out I prefer making my own path instead of following what everybody else does, and instead create my own ideas – as good as I can. I devote all my time to my craft, and to teaching what I have learnt. I know this is not for everyone, but I’m happy when I can interact with other individuals who understand these motivations. This is as spiritual as it will get from me. 🙂
I definitely have more energy now, but it just might be the summer months and all the light that’s helpful.
Lin asked: Did you feel as if you lost some personal connections with friends and family that only communicate by social media. Did you use your extra time to your advantage or find a new way to waste former media time. Was there anything you miss from using FB and Instagram?
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Jen asked: Did you make more phone calls to people to get family news? Did you write any letters? Do you feel calmer?
Julia: My family is not on social media, so no change there. I phone them and very occasionally we write letters or postcards.
But I more or less lost contact with a few people I only spoke to through social media. These were very loose connections, so I didn’t mind much. But there are two good friends I also more or less lost touch with. These are people who are practically only accessible through Facebook or Whatsapp (which I also left too never to return), and they’re very old friends, so I was a little bit sad because I knew it would be even more difficult to get a hold of them. So I try my best to keep the contact through other channels, like email or phone. And it’s still more important for me to be free of these platforms and the negative effects.
There is nothing that I miss from Instagram or Facebook. There is one group on Facebook that I really liked, a nature journaling community, but I have so much input from all the blogs and artists I follow elsewhere, and from books, that it makes up for it. I certainly don’t have too little input.
And yes, I definitely feel calmer.
Les asked: I’ve deleted a lot of negativity spewers but I still was a lot of time on social media, but it is so scary, what would I do with those hours?
Julia: Yes, it can be very scary having so much time, I was a bit doubtful too in the beginning. But even more scary for me was the fact that I still reached out to my phone, ready to start scrolling after I’d deleted the profiles. I rarely use my phone now, and I used to be glued to it. Social media scrolling can actually cause a form of mild behavioral addiction. As for alternatives, you definitely need a plan with activities to do instead if you want this to work. I didn’t have a completely failsafe plan, and I ended up scrolling through news sites for a few more months. So if you delete your accounts, sit down and think before doing that, and collect activities that you like to do or would like to try. Preferably offline activities that force you to get away from your devices. You can only win – you’ll be filling the time you spend scrolling with things you enjoy. There are so many things to do and learn, you just have to be curious and start somewhere.
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I hope this massive Q&A was insightful and helpful for you! Thank you for all of your feedback and questions, and the interesting conversations that developed from it. I hope I was able to show that it is not only possible, but a good decision to live without social media, and also run an art business without it.
If anything, I hope that I was able to show that you don’t need these services to be more creative, or to build connections with like-minded people. I wasted 5 years of my life trying to figure out how these platforms work, only to find out my business and the rest of my life work better without it. I’m glad that I quit social media.
I fully stand by my decision to quit these services, and instead engage with the world around me, with the ideas and wonders and deep thoughts that can come from it. One year without social media has shown me that this was just the beginning of a journey.
Thank you for your honesty and depth of thought. Chris
Thank you Chris!
Thank you so much for this honest and reflective series. I deleted twitter and Instagram from my phone (deleted Facebook years ago) after I read part 1 and basically everything you wrote resonated very strongly. Moving forward, I’m going to focus on building a daily art practice and prioritize developing my website instead of adding images of my work to Instagram.
Thank you Maureen, and that sounds like a great plan. All the best with your website and art!
Love reading your thoughts on this, Julia. I detest facebook, so staying away from that is easy, but your former compulsion to check the news really resonated with me, especially during these turbulent times. It is so easy to be brainwashed into thinking that there is always something “important” happening that we must not miss! In reality, a great deal of “news” is simply panic-mongering or titillation. I, too, feel much calmer when I stick with checking the news only briefly once or twice a day.
That’s so right Lynn, it always plays a role what kind of news we read. I noticed that when reading one or two neutral sources at most, I’m calmer than when I try to check as many news sites as possible, with the occasional look on Twitter thrown in. As you say, it’s often panic-mongering, particularly the newspapers that rely on ads and clickbait titles.
I’ve so enjoyed this Q&A series….thank you so much for taking the time to go so in-depth with your answers to the questions. I’m finding this whole conversation SO inspiring….just yesterday, I deactivated my Facebook account (long-neglected though it really was) and am just summoning the courage to delete my Instagram. I’ve been happily absent from Instagram for quite a few weeks (and not missing it AT ALL) but deleting feels like such a..well…permanent thing! lol . But….I’m so much happier in my mostly-analogue days and I really do believe saying a permanent goodbye to social media is the next right step for me.
ps. thank you for your kind words about my website 🙂
pps. I’m all cued up and ready to launch into your Skillshare classes….I’ve long wanted to start a nature journal and I’ve decided that now is the time. Realizing that I don’t have the pressure of posting all of my clumsy attempts (and WHY do we even feel this pressure?!?) has lifted a great, stifling weight from my shoulders and now I feel like I can absolutely try new things and experiment. Just as you said 🙂
You can do it, Melanie! Yes, it is permanent, but you will feel a change. At least that’s what happened for me. Not being able to go back gave me a lot of energy, like I was finally free to focus on the things that were important. You can always start a new account if you find out you miss the service.
I hope you’ll enjoy the classes!! Nature journaling is great for trying out new things without pressure. It’s about exploring and getting to know nature. If you learn something about art on the way, that’s a bonus!
Thank you for your courage and sharing your positive experiences about deleting social media; you continue to inspire me and I’m sure many more people who are on the fence about this decision.
Thank you Susan, I definitely hope this can help people to make a decision.
I’m so glad that I read this! A few years ago I was one of the first vendors when a vintage barn opened and offered spaces to vendors to sell their crafts (I’m a crafter but love to dabble in other art forms). After 2 years I was not invited to come back because I didn’t have enough of a social media presence. I was devastated. I had a FB, Instagram and Twitter account and tried really hard but truly hate marketing on social media because I don’t see where it helps your traffic much at all. Myself and two other vendors did a 4 month promotion and offered discounts at each other’s booths and posted on all our social media sites at least 3 times a week leading up to the next opening. None of us saw increased traffic or more sales. It frustrates me because I had my return customers every month but I wasn’t doing enough to promote their business I guess. Anyway, your blog has encouraged me to build a website, something I have been thinking of for a while, and phase out social media Thank you for sharing your experience with us!
What an awful experience, Teresa, I’m sorry to hear that. This shows once again that small businesses don’t even benefit from social media, even if you put in a lot of time and energy. Definitely build a website, it’s worth it in the long run!
Thanks, Julia for these 2 Q&A articles. We all interact with social media differently, but I really like the thought that it gives back a lot of free time that can be spent being a better artist!
Christine
Yes, exactly. So much free time available for art now! 🙂
I’ve been pulling away from social media and feel less anxiety and able to focus for longer periods of time as well. This morning I sat in my backyard and was just daydreaming, I was so still that a deer wandered into my yard and grazed right in front of me for a bit. It was a magical experience and made me realize how much calmer I am these days (which is surprising considering the situation we are all dealing with right now!). Thanks for spreading the word about what one gains when they drop social media.
Hi Julia,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences about this process. I am just a beginner and I have made the mistake of joining many artist groups in hopes of garnering inspiration but mostly what I have found is that I compare myself to many well, established artists and become quite frustrated that my skill level is so paltry in comparison. I have spent much more time scrolling than actually building my skills. It becomes a snake eating its tail scenario and I end up feeling poorly about any of my artistic endeavors. Even though it is pleasing to see so many types of artists and art, it has been quite overwhelming in the end. I thought it was just me that was too intimidated to post on social sites. So thank you for helping me think about this differently.
Hi Julia, I’m a new reader of your blog and I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your Q&A about your social media journey. I stumbled upon your first video about the topic in my YouTube recommendations and then I decided to take a look at your blog as well. I’m not an artist but I love to journal and your educational posts and videos are very interesting!
I too tried to make social media work and gain more followers and engagement even if I didn’t have a business attached to it, just a blog. My biggest weakness used to be Instagram, I spent literally hours taking the “perfect” photos and on the platform, especially on the Explore page and on Stories. I had this horrible twitch to always reach out to my phone when I had a couple of spare minutes. I knew it wasn’t good for my brain and my mental health in general but I couldn’t bring myself quitting it. Then, last year, after reading Digital Minimalism, I took a whole month off and, once I returned, I deleted all the accounts I followed as well as my followers (manually!) and just kept friends and family. Now I use the app solely for private messages but I’d like to completely drop it for something more secure like Signal. I’m trying to convince some people to move our conversations there but it’s quite hard because everyone uses Instagram. I also started using more emails to stay in touch with some friends.
My journey is still a work in progress, but I’d like to be social media free sometimes soon. Your experience surely motivated me even more!
I enjoyed reading this. I am on Facebook for art groups. Some of them are so over come with beautiful drawing that I feel intimidating so I don’t feel like posting or joining the group. I enjoy drawing or painting for my own self satisfaction.
I have heard that from many people, so I think it’s a good thing you are aware of this and keep making art for yourself without the need to post it anywhere!