In the past year I have really held back from posting anything personal online, aside from outfit videos. I also used to love scrolling Pinterest but it too has become Amazon ad after ad and AI generated photos. It’s annoying!
I quit a few months back and can’t believe I spent 12 years on there. As someone who produces art and zines but was getting no response to any of it, I’m now relishing the idea of sharing work in the real world and informing people I do NOT have an online presence.
Interesting! I'm a writer and a coach and rely on social media a lot to connect to my audience. I also offer workshops in person, but it seems very difficult to find people who genuinely want to connect in person. Are we getting scared to face each other in real life?
I think the time is ripe to organize a global, calculated social media exodus where everyone who is moved to deletes FB & IG all at once. I proposed this on another Substack piece & several people expressed interest. I am very new to Substack & have no following or reach, but would folks commenting here be interested in this?
I think a plan could be crafted to help artists/makers/small business owners connect to potential customers in other ways before leaving. Resources for doing this probably already exist, they would just need to be compiled.
Ditto! Do we need to start makers meetups just to feel connected with others? I have become a bit anti social in this digital world and not sure how to get that back. Have considered emptying my studio to end the pressure of it all. Sad times.
Hey Marloe. Super glad that I've found this newsletter. Your entire text made me reflect a lot, but I'd like to pick one specific excerpt to elaborate upon.
You've said:
"What surprises me most is how little space there is on social media to be oneself. The internet used to be my haven, a place where I felt seen. In the ‘real’ world, I often felt like an outsider, but online, I found kindred spirits."
I believe we can build places like this.
What I often see is people creating close communities (I'd say like social media in miniature, but that seems to diminish the power of communities)
I think that as long as we be our true selves, unapologetically, we attracted like-minded people, and so we create our own community. We create our safe place on the internet.
The community I take part represents exactly that - there, we have a safe place where only the like-minded ones will remain (those who think differently will not bear it). We can share our similar thoughts, find help on each other, and consume valuable content which trully resonates with us.
Maybe this is the new era of social medias. Close ones, where we get away from the noise of the outside world and focus on what really matters to us.
"It’s polarising our political landscape and puts leaders in places they don’t belong." It has nothing to do with social media influence. Unless you still believe that politics/voting actually works even though we have decades of proof otherwise.
Thank you, Marloes. Your post/essay is kind of a comfort to me, just because it is written by a human being with a heart and a soul. That is something I can feel even through the saphire glass of my Iphone. It reminds me of those things that matter most in life. I work as a graphic designer and in addition to that in the last years I tried to get an online audience for my art (writing and drawing) but mostly it felt like throwing my work out of the open window. The good thing about never having succeeded in social media is that it will be quite easy for me to quit them again.
Thank you for the article. I really feel the same way. This year I had to step away from IG for the second time and man, its been a very interesting experience. The first time I did it was because I was fed up with it, i was drawing because I HAD to post something and it became a chore, so I stopped doing it and spent a whole year trying to recover from that. It was amazing. This time, I stopped because I injured my arm, couldn't draw either so I didn't saw the benefit of posting on IG. I found myself reading more books on Everand, watching more anime series (I kinda dropped that hobby because of social media) and talking more with my friends (which is ironic because I see them post but through IG we don't speak at all!). I gotta say that I feel very lost, not knowing how to approach the art career without it, but certainly dropping IG has helped me to focus more on things that matter to me. Substack looks like a cool space to interact with others and read their thoughts, something IG and other platforms do don't allow anymore
In the past year I have really held back from posting anything personal online, aside from outfit videos. I also used to love scrolling Pinterest but it too has become Amazon ad after ad and AI generated photos. It’s annoying!
I agree with you. It's just too much, an overload of ads.
I quit a few months back and can’t believe I spent 12 years on there. As someone who produces art and zines but was getting no response to any of it, I’m now relishing the idea of sharing work in the real world and informing people I do NOT have an online presence.
I love that, Rich. The less time you spend online, the more time you have to be present in your life.
Beautifully written, Marloes. I believe this is how many of us feel.
Hey! I just wrote a new piece called 'Is There Life Beyond the Feed.' Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! Here’s the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/thedaythesocialmediadied/p/is-there-life-beyond-the-feed?r=yx9g4&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true. 😊
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too!
Interesting! I'm a writer and a coach and rely on social media a lot to connect to my audience. I also offer workshops in person, but it seems very difficult to find people who genuinely want to connect in person. Are we getting scared to face each other in real life?
I think the time is ripe to organize a global, calculated social media exodus where everyone who is moved to deletes FB & IG all at once. I proposed this on another Substack piece & several people expressed interest. I am very new to Substack & have no following or reach, but would folks commenting here be interested in this?
I think a plan could be crafted to help artists/makers/small business owners connect to potential customers in other ways before leaving. Resources for doing this probably already exist, they would just need to be compiled.
Ditto! Do we need to start makers meetups just to feel connected with others? I have become a bit anti social in this digital world and not sure how to get that back. Have considered emptying my studio to end the pressure of it all. Sad times.
You have expressed so well what I have been feeling! Thank you!
No.
Yesterday, i read some other substacker talking about it. Today I found blogs of creators I want to follow, saved the links and deleted Instagram.
Hey Marloe. Super glad that I've found this newsletter. Your entire text made me reflect a lot, but I'd like to pick one specific excerpt to elaborate upon.
You've said:
"What surprises me most is how little space there is on social media to be oneself. The internet used to be my haven, a place where I felt seen. In the ‘real’ world, I often felt like an outsider, but online, I found kindred spirits."
I believe we can build places like this.
What I often see is people creating close communities (I'd say like social media in miniature, but that seems to diminish the power of communities)
I think that as long as we be our true selves, unapologetically, we attracted like-minded people, and so we create our own community. We create our safe place on the internet.
The community I take part represents exactly that - there, we have a safe place where only the like-minded ones will remain (those who think differently will not bear it). We can share our similar thoughts, find help on each other, and consume valuable content which trully resonates with us.
Maybe this is the new era of social medias. Close ones, where we get away from the noise of the outside world and focus on what really matters to us.
"It’s polarising our political landscape and puts leaders in places they don’t belong." It has nothing to do with social media influence. Unless you still believe that politics/voting actually works even though we have decades of proof otherwise.
Thank you, Marloes. Your post/essay is kind of a comfort to me, just because it is written by a human being with a heart and a soul. That is something I can feel even through the saphire glass of my Iphone. It reminds me of those things that matter most in life. I work as a graphic designer and in addition to that in the last years I tried to get an online audience for my art (writing and drawing) but mostly it felt like throwing my work out of the open window. The good thing about never having succeeded in social media is that it will be quite easy for me to quit them again.
I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! I wish more people talked about that
"Where social media can feel like a space where everything is black and white, the real world is full of colours." Perfectly said to me !
My branding is taking the digital direction of less is more : I want to focus on irl networking and how to connect with people's sensitivity.
Internet, social media feels like the oppositie of it nowaydays : it's a cold and hostile land for creativity, emotions and excentricity.
Thank you for the article. I really feel the same way. This year I had to step away from IG for the second time and man, its been a very interesting experience. The first time I did it was because I was fed up with it, i was drawing because I HAD to post something and it became a chore, so I stopped doing it and spent a whole year trying to recover from that. It was amazing. This time, I stopped because I injured my arm, couldn't draw either so I didn't saw the benefit of posting on IG. I found myself reading more books on Everand, watching more anime series (I kinda dropped that hobby because of social media) and talking more with my friends (which is ironic because I see them post but through IG we don't speak at all!). I gotta say that I feel very lost, not knowing how to approach the art career without it, but certainly dropping IG has helped me to focus more on things that matter to me. Substack looks like a cool space to interact with others and read their thoughts, something IG and other platforms do don't allow anymore