Announcement
Before we go ahead with today’s topic, a short announcement: I’m currently filming for the last episode of the seasonal nature journaling classes – it’s summer and there’s a lot to see and sketch in nature. So far I’ve planned on taking a look at sketching summer flowers, tree shapes and portraits, insects, small landscapes and maps. And there will probably be some birds that will end up in there somewhere.
My question for you:
What would you like to see in a nature sketching class in summer? Is there anything I definitely need to tackle? Let me know, I’m happy to add your ideas and wishes!
And now, on to the topic. I hope I’m not the only person who quit social media more than one time.. And I definitely hope I’ll be talking about this for the last time for a while.
Here’s the video version of this post:
Quitting social media again (for good) video
As some of you know, I’ve deleted all my social media in 2019. Back then, I went from ignoring the social platforms I had used on a regular basis (Instagram + Facebook) and deleted the accounts (Why I quit social media). I was tired of the way social media made me feel. I basically only kept Youtube for sharing interesting things with my blog readers.
Everything was great. Then came the pandemic. I read a lot of news, and came to really appreciate Twitter as an extended news source. I discovered that despite a lot of stuff I didn’t like (discussion style, endless scroll), there were a lot of intelligent people on the platform that helped me understand and cope with the pandemic better. I also discovered there is a very active nature community there. I spontaneously decided to create an account at the start of 2021, and shared a few bird sketches from time to time. I had found a lot of interesting people that were suddenly part of my day, on top of the news sources that I frequented to stay informed.
And of course…it didn’t hold for long. Very quickly, I became tired of it all again. The individuals and scientists on there are great, it’s just the way it’s presented, with the endless scroll that makes you consume it in such a shallow way. It’s way too much input. It made me anxious and depleted my energy. I ended up feeling overwhelmed very quickly, my thoughts fragmented, and I didn’t have the energy to engage a lot.
It’s not just the political discussion and the doom scrolling when there’s a major event, although I’m very concerned about the social segregation and the feeling of loneliness that these platforms are producing (there are studies and books about this subject that are linked at the end of the post). We have seen in the last few years how “social” media is driving people and the entire society apart, making us more lonely, aggravated and less likely to talk with the “other” side. Political and societal radicalization is happening through social media, and it’s not what we need when facing the world’s current problems. Technology has crept into every aspect of our lives, often making it more comfortable, but also making us more isolated.
And for me personally, it was a mix of those two – the combination of what is happening in the world because of platforms like Twitter, and experiencing again in person what it does to me, and why I originally decided against these services in 2019. Just like that, I went back to that everything’s-the-same scrolling habit that you very quickly develop no matter how careful you use these services and no matter what the content is about. At least I do. And I’m really just tired of this. Somehow, I’m not one of these people who can turn it all off and enjoy the rest of their day. It’s great that there are artists who can get value and connection out of their social media profiles, because they definitely can get the word about your art out there. But for me, it doesn’t work. I get distracted, tired, and I feel bad. For me it’s not worth it.
This time on social media, I noticed that I also lost the drive to post anything myself after a few weeks. Why add to the noise? I know my sketches are seen and appreciated over here on my blog, were I can interact with you directly and take my time – do everything on my own terms, in my own rhythm. My Youtube channel integrates into that rhythm and doesn’t add any stress for me – a weekly video. Most social media platforms force you to consume and create output at a much faster rate. I realized again this is not the right format for me, it’s just overwhelming. So the old feeling was there again.
When I joined, I didn’t honestly think that Twitter would be different than the other platforms, it was more of an experiment, and in part my pandemic desperation. And there are definitely aspects of it I like, and people I’ve come to really appreciate. There are a lot of interesting science and nature people on Twitter. But it is way too much to take in on a daily basis. And for me, it’s not enough to justify feeling fragmented and tired and overwhelmed all the time. I know I will probably miss some things I’d have learned about on Twitter, but I will also stumble upon equally interesting things elsewhere. I know I won’t miss anything vital.
In the end, I just deleted my Twitter account. Like all other social networks, they keep your data for an additional 30 days in case you want to come back to get your fix. I know that routine. In the beginning, I used a software blocker, but now I don’t even think about going on Twitter anymore.
The transition period (read: withdrawal) is always very interesting. There’s suddenly a lot of time you have to fill. And it’s interesting how often you reach for your tablet, only to realize there’s nothing to scroll. I know from the last time I did this that I need a few good alternative habits so that I will have something to revert to other than scrolling. So here’s what I did and do:
I’m reading even more books, making the most from my library card. Even shallow books are better than spending time scrolling. I find that I can concentrate better when I don’t check my feed every 15 minutes.
I’m also writing more – for this blog, and for myself, with others. Long texts and thoughts. Doesn’t matter if it won’t end up anywhere. It’s a way to think through things in life, without pushing them to the side or feel overwhelmed. I’ve recently had a lot of stuff happening in my life that was really overwhelming to deal with (on top of the pandemic), and I noticed that when you really have to fix something in real life, there’s no time for scrolling anyway.
The gardening season has also started and that helps me to spend hours outside, not thinking about any technology. I’m also looking forward to another season of outdoor sketching and plein air landscape painting.
I’m still listening often to audio plays and radio while I draw, this helps me to concentrate. And sometimes, I just enjoy the silence. For news, I have one major and one local news source, and I check it once a day. It’s much less compulsive than scrolling through Twitter every ten minutes, and I can turn it off afterwards. And again, it helped that I barely had the time to do these things in the last few weeks.
For mindless consumption and to unwind, I’ve always watched Netflix, or old TV shows, and I still do that and enjoy it. Following a narrative over 45 minutes, even if it’s fast-paced, is less fragmenting than to engage with 20 different thoughts and positions in under a minute.
I’ve found a few new artists on Twitter, and I’m trying to find a good way to keep up with their work. For now it’s just a list with their websites/blogs. I don’t need everyone’s daily thoughts added to my own.
I still follow a few people on Youtube. I like that I usually spend a longer time with videos, think about them (or integrate them into my day), so it’s a conscious decision and it takes me into one person’s life or into one specific topic. I know that Youtube still counts as a mix of social media and an entertainment/learning platform. It has many of the features that keep you glued to the screen, and in the comments it can be an awful place. You can, however, turn those off and use Youtube on your own terms. I’ve added an add-on to my browser that hides the Youtube feed, sidebar and comments (Distraction Free for YouTube). That way I don’t get sucked into the Youtube recommendation algorithm – I find it much less addicting that way. Of course I still reply to comments under my own videos. I like the community aspect of Youtube, but only if it’s positive and serves a goal, in my case art education and sharing creativity.
And I try to produce my videos in a similar way – so that people can take a bit of time with them and enjoy the moment they spend with my video and the thoughts presented in it. I hope this comes across somehow. I much prefer this to the frantic speed of Instagram or Twitter, where you create a post that people will likely see for a split second only.
Right now, I’m looking forward to the summer, where less media consumption is easier because I’m usually outside a lot.
So that’s the most recent part of my journey away from social media. I’m not sorry about the detour, sometimes you have to go back to feel again what you didn’t miss at all.
How have your recent experiences with social media been? Have you noticed a difference during the pandemic? Leave a comment to share your experience – and also definitely let me know if there anything specific you want to see in a summer sketching class in nature! Thanks!!
My other videos on the topic:
Why I’ve quit social media (2019)
One year after I’ve quit social media part 1
One year after I’ve quit social media part 2
Resources for further reading
If you’re thinking about changing your social media habits, read these books and articles to form your own opinion:
Books:
Jaron Lanier – Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Cal Newport – Digital Minimalism
Sherry Turkle – Alone Together
Nicholas Carr – The Shallows
Documentary
The Social Dilemma
The Great Hack
Articles: Social media is a threat to democracy: Carole Cadwalladr speaks at TED2019
Content blocking software:
Freedom (all platforms + mobile)
SelfControl (Mac)
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I love to hear your arguments, finding it very sane and levelheaded. I have spent so much time in front of screens this last year. It is more timeconsuming than ever and the feeling och ”missing out on news” happens all the time. Now, I have a outdoors work for summer when I an out searching for bugs and critters. ”Survelliance of pollinators”, a EU founded project here in Sweden and many other countries as well. So for me the answer to what I would to see you tackle in future posts is INSECTS. You get them for free when you look at flowers most of the time.
Love/ Eva in Sweden
What a wonderful work opportunity Eva! I’m already planning on creating a video about observing and sketching insects, thank you for the great suggestion!
Bravo Julia. I do not subscribe to any social media other than an email account and YouTube and I even find those platforms tedious and time consuming but necessary.
Lee
That sounds great, Lee! And I agree about most things on the computer being time-consuming and not very exciting.
An important post! I recently quit Instagram for the 2nd time for many of the reasons you cite in your blog and also because the algorithm just kept my art from reaching even my own followers. It’s unfortunate that what was once a cool way to share and connect with other creatives has become a frantic online shopping mall experience.
I recommend Holly Exley’s youtube video about her quitting instagram! We’re definitely not alone here
This is a very familiar feeling – the awfulness of these algorithms is unmatched.
I know Holly’s video! I actually think she paused her activities, and will keep Instagram as a portfolio – which is another great option if you already have built a larger following or want to keep in touch with some people. I did this for a while before I quit it all, if you remove all accounts from your follow list it’s a very contemplative place, as there’s nothing left to scroll. 😉
I soooo appreciate your thoughts on quitting social media. And I think you’ve summed up much in your phrase “…sometimes you have to go back to feel again what you didn’t miss at all .”
I’ll stick with your blog. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sticking with my blog, I appreciate it a lot!
Hi Julia. I’ve never been on Twitter. I do know that it’s not somewhere I want to be. I have FB but I hate FB but it’s the only way I can keep up with old friends even though I never see their posts anymore due to how FB controls what you see. FB is such a hole of negativity and it boggles my mind how many trolls can rip someone to part over posting a crockpot version of lasagna. How dare you cook it in a crockpot! Crazy people. Are they insane? Is the whole world bonkers? I do have Insta and YouTube. I have noticed a change in my socials where I have really steered away from FB more and spend very little time there. Instagram … it’s ok but I don’t spend a lot of time on it either. Now YouTube … since covid, I spend more time there. I love learning so many new things! I’m sure you will never miss Twitter. You’ve already done it before so you know you are good. You’ll be just fine. Enjoy the summer!
Thank you Lisa for sharing your experience. Now I want to know how much better my lasagna could be if I had a crockpot. 😉
Anyway, I can sympathize with wanting to have a place where you can keep up with friends. FB was so awful in the end for me that I ended up contacting people directly and added those who answered to a private messenger. Much less insanity!
Dear Julia, this might some weird, however i honestly find that it was a breath of fresh air reading your post. It was introspective, relaxing, reflective and enjoyable. I, too, had done away with facebook/ instagram two years ago and never looked back since. Being sick of the endless void of scrolling my life away. Kudos to you for pulling the Twitter plug and finding the just right balance in life that works for you. I never have a twitter account but there are few users that i keep up-to-date with regularly, by keying the url in the browser. Might seem a little bit effortful but it pays in the long run as it feels i have control over what i wish to read. Looking forward to future posts (: Enjoy your summer!
Thank you so much!
Yes, yours is a great strategy – I also keep a few direct links of people or projects I want stay informed on. It’s much better than being bombarded with a feed all the time. Hope you too will enjoy your summer!
I dont have twitter either!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your art with us.
Maggie
You’re welcome Maggie! 🙂
I feel the same. I left Instagram (the only social media I used) last year and I’ve no regret whatsoever. The social and political radicalisation happening there and other platforms is scary, to put it mildly. What I think the most dangerous is the fact that we’ve basically removed all apolitical spaces, everywhere you turn there’s political activism happening – though they would claim what they do wasn’t political, not out of malice, just sadly ignorance. Proof: in the end, they want to change policies (the clue is in the name), to reshape society. But that’s beside the point.
My point is, people are too blind to see the activism they inject into EVERY single aspect of life has got a price. One comes to mind; our collective mental health. We, as humans, need our apolitical space. A neutral zone where we can escape from the harshness of life, of suffering, of… injustice. But those spaces are now turned into an arena for social justice activism. I see this in all art and craft communities on IG. Making art and crafting used to be an escape, but it’s no longer the case. You go in there, you’re confronted with political messaging and you’re demanded to “stand with” so and so. Companies are pressured to make political statements, if not then boycott. Where does this lead to? When we cannot switch off, we’re mentally drained – like in your and my case. Our mental health will be compromised. A huge mental health crisis is looming in our society, like nothing we’ve seen before.
I can’t even listen to nature journaling podcast without being told that nature journaling can be a way to fight racism, to fight injustices and that you’re journaling about nature on stolen land, etc. Just stop! Let’s reserve some spaces for us to escape, momentarily, to recharge, to heal.
I’m not saying let’s eradicate activism altogether, I think it’s an important force, but we need balance. Not every one and every company has to be an activists, not everything has to be turned into an activism arena. We need neutral space, we need breathing room.
Thank you for this post, Julia. Thank you for warning us of the dangers of social media.
Oh, this is a very interesting observation. I too have seen this on Twitter, and I thought it was due to the more political nature of the platform. This is the kind of radicalization I was thinking about. Interesting to hear that it’s the same on IG. I agree that we all need neutral places to relax, unwind and get away from politics and activism. I would argue that social media consumption isn’t even a good way to relax in the first place, politics or not.
It’s a sign of our times that a lot of formerly neutral pastimes are now used for political statements (and things get out of hand quickly on social media), yet I’m not sure about keeping it all apolitical per se. I sometimes talk about politics or environmental causes on this blog, because I find it’s important – and I still want to be able to do that. Usually in blogs long-form conversations can happen, and people are less prone to jump to conclusions quickly. I think it’s important to stay open to all kinds of topics, and let people voice their opinions, and add intelligent things to discussions in the right place and medium. I also understand (and share) the need of wanting to get away from a hyper-political environment where everything is a statement for or against something. I personally think that internet activism is probably not the most effective way to get these important voices out there, or actually change things. The social internet with its frantic speed is probably not the best place to cultivate these topics, it usually sets the discussion on fire. We live in difficult times.
Dear Julia,
You are absolutely right, social media consumption isn’t really a good way to relax to begin with. The way I used to justify it is that I used it to 1) get inspiration (wrong, I was bombarded by inspiration that I was collecting ideas without executing it, “ooh I like the way this artist rendered the tree, I’ll try that later” scroll scroll scroll… and before I knew it, I spent hours already, hours I could’ve spent with my sketchbook), 2) get connected with other artists. This is when I realised my feed then turned into political statements and crucification/attacks on those who were silent (silence is violence!). It was too much to me.
I agree with you with regards to blog posts. I think this format is the way of the future (odd, huh… we used to think blogging days were behind us!) Partly I think, because blog posts usually requires more thoughts than the instantaneous “tweeting” your thoughts, yes even the stupid ones. I enjoy your posts, even the political ones and environmental issues, because you’re right, we need to be aware of politics and environmental issues, just maybe not 24/7. And also I think conversations that involved different thoughts/opinions are crucial. When someone says “oh I read different stuff, this stuff said this…” it’s not that they’re against you and needed to be attacked/boycotted. I think we, as a society (me included) need to focus more on gathering wisdom. And Nature, I find, is one of the best sources (if not the best) for wisdom.
Thank you for all the eye candy, art inspiration, and food for thought, Julia. And for teaching and providing us a space to breathe and be inspired.
Best wishes.
I know, it’s so hard, right? We all want to get new ideas, or learn from others, but infinite feeds have made it near impossible to do so without brain overload.
I too really hope that blogs will make a big comeback, together with podcast and longer Youtube videos they seem like the best way to dive into a certain topic.
I find that each personal conversation with someone who has a different opinion than me is so much more helpful than social media – for understanding the other, and accepting that other people can have fundamentally different views, but still be nice people. Of course, there are also people with absolutely awful worldviews out there, but I’m honestly glad I have to see less of them because I’m not on social media where these things get called out.
I’m happy I can add a tiny bit of creativity and some thinky thoughts to the internet, and I’m glad it seems to resonate with a few people. So thank you for your support!
I started a watercolor sketchbook due to you…I am trying to keep it cohesive of places and areas in around my home.
I find your tutorials and blogs so very motivating…..thanks for sharing your gift.
That is wonderful and I hope you enjoy sketching and painting with watercolors. Keep it up!
Hi Julia,
Twitter mysteriously blocked my account 10 days before the U.S. election last November. Up until that point I had been using Twitter daily for years – like, maybe 10! At first it was horrible. It felt like a deep severance. I originally started using Twitter to pass the time after my husband died unexpectedly and I was a widow caring for my 7 year old son. He’d go to school and I’d go to Twitter.
I had been making art off and on since I was you g but never found a rhythm with it that was a way of life. Well, after Twitter disappeared out of my life I finished grieving and found my way into my creative world.
Just as mysteriously, Twitter gave me back my account. I only recently have posted a few times. But I don’t want to lose this connection I’ve found with my own inner creativity and the natural world and the thread that holds it all together. It was always what I was looking for, but didn’t know how much. Great post, good to see resources to help keep going. Have a good day.
Lisa, thank you for sharing your experience, what a wonderful and weird story. In a way, the decision was taken from you to take a break, and you found what you can do without scrolling all the time. I wish you all the best and I hope you can hold onto this creativity and the time you won!
Good for you, Julia! I’ve been off of FB for awhile, never had a Twitter account, still have IG but have learned to look at it only very briefly once or twice a week.
I, too, became addicted to constant news and commentary during the pandemic. Made me very annoyed, anxious, even disturbed my sleep. I no longer read any of it. And completely stopped reading any “news”…it’s ALL slanted, local or otherwise. If something THAT big happens, I figure I’ll hear about it.
It is with some dismay that I discover that my thoughts and worldview seem to be totally out of step with the majority of my fellow humans right now. But I am content to ignore the very disturbing dystopian world that seems to be quickly taking shape around us, and focus instead on nature, gardening, loved ones, and my own small, lovely world. Thank you for adding to its loveliness!
Thank you Lynn for sharing. I noticed the same thing, being irritated and anxious after too much news consumption. So it can be a good strategy to remove oneself from this completely for a while, especially during the pandemic. I still try to stay somewhat informed these days, so that I can maybe help to shape the world into a different direction, but it is becoming increasingly frustrating and hard.
It sounds like you’re putting your focus on the right activities, all of this sounds wonderful!
I’m with you. I stay off Facebook (but still have an account for occasional post with family/friends) and anything owned by Facebook (instagram) irritates me. No twitter. I use YouTube all the time to watch “how to” videos. This keeps my stress level to manageable levels.
That sounds like a good solution, thanks for sharing! I too like Youtube for learning new things.
I have Twitter but don’t use, rarely use Instagram either. I have great craft groups and have taken multiple classes in private FB groups, plus as someone who has lived all across the country, it is wonderful to see and keep in touch with friends and family. I guess it depends on how and why you use social media.
Definitely, and I don’t mean to drive people away from those platforms who get connections and value out of them. If this works well for you, that’s great!
Well said, and yes, far too much input to take in, especially do for those of us who are extra sensitive- artists, for instance!
Help with birds would be much appreciated. Thank you, and congratulations on the great self-care!
Thank you for the helpful feedback, Katie! I haven’t planned a bird lesson yet, but since I can’t help myself it will eventually end up in the class somewhere!
I have realised that I have spent the last several years conducting experiments on myself to find what works for me and what I want to do going forward.
‘The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.’
—MARIE KONDO
I highly recommend Greg McKeown’s book ‘Essentialism- the disciplined pursuit of less’. The aim is less but better. To discern the vital few from the trivial many. It has helped me clear so many paths that were obstructing my progress.
‘Explore, Eliminate, Execute – repeat’
I have now got rid of so many things in my life that were not serving me well and that included Social Media. There is just too much ‘stuff’. It is not just information overload; it is also the opinion overload. It was wasting my time and not helping my mental health, so it went. I have had no regrets.
The pandemic gave me more time and space to think and I made sure that I stayed away from social media and news. I now only look at the news for a maximum 5 minutes once a day.
Like yourself I have now reached a point where I have time to spare. I identified my two main values as ‘freedom’ and ‘curiosity’ and anything I add to my life now has to meet these values.
At present I am having a new adventure, as I revisit my favourite subject from school, Mathematics. It’s not for work or any need, it’s purely for the joy of learning. Who knows where I will go next but I will have fun on the adventures.
Enjoy your hard earned extra free time and explore your curiosity.
‘Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?’
—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Things that have made me curious recently:’
Rewild Yourself – Simon Barnes
Adventures in opting out – Cait Flanders (also her ‘opting out’ podcast)
Writing down the bones – Natalie Goldberg (especially the exercise in the chapter ‘First Thoughts’)
Podcasts from Dr Rangan Chatterjee at drchatterjee.com
Doing a personality test at 16personalities.com (scarily accurate)
Many thanks for sharing your experiences Steve, you’re already so far ahead on this journey. Wonderful. I’ve noted your book and media recommendations!
Hi Julia, I am replying to your request about content of summer sketching videos. I love it when you film out of doors, it gives an atmosphere to the rest of your tuition.
I am not a user of social media, except for You Tube, from which I learn a lot and have found interesting teachers like yourself. Otherwise there is too much life to live out there, and of course so many books to read.
Thank you for your feedback Sandi, I have already filmed a bit outside and I’m planning to do more of that! It’s always very challenging but also fun.
And you’re right of course, there’s so much to learn and see elsewhere it’s hard to believe one can even fall into the time sink that is social media.
You might be interested in Feedly for managing all the websites and blogs from artists/people you follow. I’ve been using the free version for years for my news and interests. You choose the RSS feeds and websites to add and can group them in categories e.g. news, artists etc. 🙂
That is a great idea Kim, thanks! I’ve had Feedly on my list of things to try out forever.
I really enjoyed following your experiment from afar (I’ve deleted my Twitter account a couple of months ago) and I’m glad you shared your experience with us.
I’ve deleted my Facebook account years ago and never missed it, Instagram is still there because I have some people messaging me and I’m not comfortable with sharing my phone number with them, but I just check it from the browser. Twitter has been my favourite social media since 2011, then with the pandemic, I basically did all the opposite of many people and I’ve cocooned myself away from the platforms, for the first time ever, I’ve spent more than 6 months without sharing anything nor consuming the feed until the end of last year when Twitter locked my account for “sharing content against the rules” when nothing had been shared for months and my account wasn’t hacked…maybe I was punished for not using the platform for months? Eventually, I got it back in January but then I decided to delete it for good. I didn’t like the feeling of my images and words being in the hands of a platform that could take them away from me in a second and lock me out with no valid reasons.
I was talking with a friend the other day and we both agreed how social media have been quite terrible in the last few years and how they managed to create even more anxiety during this pandemic. I honestly miss the old times when you listened/watched/read the news once or twice a day on tv or a newspaper and that was that. You can still do it now but you can’t prevent people around you from being constantly connected. I miss that slower pace.
My main issue is now WhatsApp. I would really like to switch to a non-Zuckenberg platform but I’m getting resistance from family and friends since everyone uses WhatsApp and they aren’t willing to try something else. Do you use any instant messaging app now? Thank you in advance!
Hi Alice,
I can totally relate to your experience, thank you for sharing your journey! I too often miss the slower pace of the pre-internet era, but I suppose we won’t get that back. The best we can do is limit ourselves in our news-reading. I find this works far better in summer, when my motivation to sit in front of technology is very limited.
I use Signal as a messenger, and the native iPhone messenger app. Some people needed a slight nudge to make the change, but for me was either those apps or being completely unavailable. Signal has better privacy than WA, and it’s free and otherwise has the same features. I hope you will find a good solution!
Thank you for the recommendation, Julia! You are right, summer works better when it comes to avoiding screens and the internet in general. Have a great weekend!
Hi. I left Fb and IG 3 years ago. I thought I couldn’t live without being in touch with other humans but that was one of the best decision I have ever made in my life. During the pandemic I discovered my passion: watercolour drawings. A friend of mine highly recommended me to join again IG. I started to study very seriously about it. I tried to be on there but at the end of the day,it was distract me from my present life and I started to feel : overwhelmed, insicure, not enough, lost, confused etc. So I am OFF again. AND I am feeling great once again. People who sees my arts loves it some said I should try to sell my work. What would you recommend to someone like me who start from zero?
Looking forwards to hear from you
Hi Giada,
thank you for sharing your story. I can relate to it, it was a similar effect for me!
Do you have a website for your work? An online portfolio on your own website would be the first thing to set up. You could also start a blog or a newsletter, and see if people sign up if you offer valuable insights into your workflow or your art. I would not invest a whole lot of money and time into products before you know there are enough people who want to buy your work (a lot of people who ask if you sell your art will never buy it when it’s available). Building an audience will take time, and it’s best to base it on building a relationship with your audience. This is why regularly sending out blogs or newsletters, and telling a story with your art will work better than just putting up finished products on a website.
I hope that helps a bit, all the best for you and your art!
Hi Julia,
Thanks a lot for this piece and I really enjoyed it because I am currently on the same journey. I stopped posting on Instagram since January and haven’t been so active on it (or looking at it) since about May. This makes me feel so free, but I keep worrying about promoting my work without social media and you are an inspiration that it is possible.
I’m a long time follower and I just want to say: keep up the awesome work 😀
Hugs from HH
Hi Sumbo,
thank you for saying hello and I really hope you’ll find all the clarity and strength in decision you need for the next steps. I know it is possible to carve a niche for yourself without promoting anything on social media. Just keep doing what you do – your work is really good and it would be a shame to waste time on promotional efforts on social networks that have limited effects. All the best and hugs!!
I used to be quite minimalistic about social media/phone use/TV although I did have a few pages for my work. Then the pandemic hit. Not only do I live abroad, away from many friends and family, the way the country that I live in approached this situation felt very wrong to me. It felt as if I could/would only keep some connections and find information if I’d go online- and that going online resulted in scrolling and refreshing too often to be good. I’m not sure (yet?) if I want to delete everything as I do live in a super quiet spot in the woods and I’m unsure if I might just fall off the planet or disappear in the snow :-).
Hi Fenne, thank you for sharing your experiences. I went through the same during the pandemic, only to find how social media and news consumption made everything worse for me – I still have to set limits for my news-reading to avoid doom-scrolling. I know it’s hard in times like these to find a good balance. I hope you’ll work out a good strategy for yourself. A quiet space in the woods sounds actually really nice. 🙂
Hi Julia! I just discovered your YouTube video on “Why I quit social media” and your blog posts. Also your wonderful portfolio. I love the woodpecker sketches!
I quit Facebook during the pandemic. I’m thinking of quitting Twitter, which I’ve deactivated while I’m vacation. I discovered that I was behaving as though I had ADHD. And yet, I used to be able to sit for 3 hours straight, absorbed in a book, and feel like not much time had passed.
High-level thinking and obtaining new insights had dropped off too. But I’m happy to say its all quickly coming back.
As someone who has worked in marketing, one of the most frustrating things to watch is how nonprofits pay enormous sums of money to acquire more followers, likes, views, “reach” and “engagement.” These are all “vanity metrics” – they have nothing to do with success – they are easy to buy. Then the meaningless results are packaged and “sold” to gullible donors.
In the for-profit world I have yet to meet one single entrepreneur who says social media is anything other than a total waste of time.
I think we’ve all been “sold” a story — that we all “need” to be on social media because it’ll make us “successful.”
I sense that the trend is shifting away from social media.
That said, I still do like YouTube, which is not a newsfeed-based platform. I like it because there is a lot of deep-form content on it.
I wish you the very best in all of your online endeavors, Julia. Thank you for causing us to think more about these important issues.
Hi Sherrie,
thank you for sharing your story. I know this ADHD-like behaviour very well, and it’s definitely better when I’m consuming less media, and when I’m less on the computer/devices. Like you, I’ve found that concentration comes back.
It’s such an interesting insight that all the entrepreneurs you’ve encountered don’t see much value in social media and don’t profit from it. And yet the internet is still full of the mantra that you absolutely need social media. I’t always makes me so unhappy when I see another non-profit use FB or IG for building communities.
Like you, I try to use Youtube as a learning platform, I’ve removed all the feeds and recommendations with a plugin. I find YT really useful for learning more about specific topics, and I think the fact that you usually take your time to watch longer videos and don’t just scroll through helps with concentration.
All the best to you and thank you for your thoughtful comment!
Hi Julia!
I just watched 2 of your YT vids about quitting social media, search for the topic as I needed some harder motivation. 🙂 I’ve been a blogger for years and always got told to stay on social media, even when I criticized it and thought it was a waste of time. SO I stayed. But finally I got slapped in the face (kinda, haha) by Facebook, as they just started to block my comments on my own page there. I took it as a signal. It’s time. 🙂
Rebuilding my websites atm to exclude social media, and make them more engaging.
Want to thank you for sharing your wise thoughts and giving good advice! And also, you’re so talented. Wish you all the best!
Johanna, Sweden
Thank you Johanna for sharing your story and I wish you all the best! 🙂