My Life Without Social Media?
May 9th, 2018I'm one of those friends that other friends get mad at because they don't have Snapchat, Instagram, or other accounts. To be truthful, when I hear other people talk about how they aren't on social networks, or how they stopped using Facebook, it sounds like they are trying to impress others. It comes off as a signal of superiority. It's not awesome.
However, it still may be something that a person may be interested in, so I'll share about my experience over the last six months or so.
I had a lot of accounts;
- Snapchat
- YouTube
And for a few months I had;
- Bumble
- Tinder
This was at the peak, but they begun to fall off because I couldn't keep up. I got frustrated with how many profiles I had and how frequently I would need to check them. I wanted it to be simple and I wanted just one. This is why I got a website.
This is my place if you want to get a hold of me, check in on me, or get to know me. I have liked it so far, and will continue to operate my Wordpress site instead of social media. That being said, there are parts of my life that set up well for this, how I tend to operate sets up for this, but there are things that I miss.
I'm going to try and give a reasonably accurate description of how my life has changed since I've dropped all the social media stuff.
Many of the things that I will list are obvious, and I know that they are obvious. I am listing them because they're an easily observable difference that someone could see when comparing this part of my life to someone who has multiple social media accounts.
PROS
- I spend less time taking videos, photos, and thinking of things for the sake of my accounts.
- I spend less time looking at other peoples videos, posts, and pictures.
- I spend less time checking my posts for likes, comments, views, retweets, and reposts.
- I spend less time updating my profiles.
- I don't send controversial tweets or have to worry about posting reputation damaging photos.
- I don't have to deal with awkward Facebook friend requests (I used to think some Facebook friend relationships were weird)
CONS
- I don't promote my website through social media accounts
- It's more difficult to keep up with the happenings of friends (I have to ask other people who's getting married, having a baby, changing the world)
- Some of my friends are not easily able to find out what I've been doing.
- I'm not able to attempt to reach out to people that usually I have not ability to communicate with (like people I admire or want to know more about)
There are some important things to note.
First. Social media accounts can be very useful if single. I have a girlfriend, so it sounds bad, but a really good reason to have social media is the large connection that people can have with various groups of people, And when there are various groups of people interacting it's easier to meet people, hopefully other single people, through those groups.
If someone is single and looking to date it might not be the most productive idea.
Second. I spend a lot of time being an introvert. Feeling like I'm stepping fully out of the social sphere at night, or at anytime really, is a benefit to me. I'm not tempted to constantly check in.
Third. I still get my news. Some people worry that if they stop using Twitter they won't get their news. The news that I miss, not being on Twitter or Facebook, is O.K with me. I'm a subscriber of OZY.com's Presidential Daily Brief which is a concise news curator that sends out an email with important headlines every morning except Sunday (some Sunday's they do actually).
It's very easy to stay connected to news, ideas, informational material, and more through podcasts, and I listen to a good amount of those.
Fourth. This ones important. I got rid of the classic social media accounts, but I replaced some aspects with this website. I can still create content, share ideas, and build a platform. I like what I'm able to do with Wordpress so I'm willing to pay for it.
It's more difficult to determine any change in my actual happiness level subjectively. There are pros, cons, and things in my life that affect me differently than others.
If someone is thinking about dropping it cold turkey they should know that there will be pros and cons that may cancel each other out. Maybe someone is at a point in their life that allows for this, or maybe the current setup would cause more harm.I'm one of those friends that other friends get mad at because they don't have Snapchat, Instagram, or other accounts. To be truthful, when I hear other people talk about how they aren't on social networks, or how they stopped using Facebook, it sounds like they are trying to impress others. It comes off as a signal of superiority. It's not awesome.
However, it still may be something that a person may be interested in, so I'll share about my experience over the last six months or so.