My Reasons for Quitting Social Media

I remembered a time when I used to wake up and be excited to write. To share. To give you information that could change your life in a single blog post. It was created from a deep place of compassion, from depth and from knowledge that I had gained through reading proper books and detailed research papers. It was my thoughts, my insights, and my interpretations that could help you. It felt creative and free to share in this way. I didn’t have an “editorial calendar” or a schedule. I just wrote on whatever topic or subject excited me at the time. No end goal. Just sharing to help.

Somewhere along my journey, I started using Facebook to connect with my tribe. It started with a Facebook Group and in the beginning, it was a wonderful place to share and to connect. I could help women through a community space. A positive space. We were a family of women who joined together in the mission to help ourselves better cope with endometriosis and we stood together in that mission. We felt it and we knew we had created a sacred space. Sadly, once the group grew and became larger, it became harder to manage. It suddenly became a place where others felt they could market their T-Shirts or share their thoughts through their own blogs. The energy shifted. Women would stir the pot, fight with our family members and feel the need to tell us our mission wasn’t working. It created doubt. It created anger and the space lost its sacred healing power. So, we moved from Facebook onto Mobilize. Luckily, it’s back to being a sacred healing space where we can speak privately and without all the annoying advertising. *Join here if you feel compelled to do so. 

So, over the last few days I have been reflecting on whether to completely cancel all of my social media accounts and I came to some reasons why I ultimately to give them all the boot!

It has dampened my creative energy

In the last few years, I would literally wake up each morning and spend hours upon hours on social media. I thought it was my “treat”. I thought it was my reward. What it did do, is give me a dopamine hit but also dampen any creative inspiration I ever had, in a matter of minutes. I would just get stuck in a place somewhere between wanting more attention/likes and yet feeling like I couldn’t produce anything of value. I didn’t get inspired. I didn’t feel compelled to share cos according to my “likes” for the day nobody really read my stuff anyway!

I don’t like being used

I finally realised that the big push for me to share more content to “tell your friends what you are up to with a post” was not about the social media companies caring about my social connections… it was so I would share more content. The content that I create. The stuff I make is being used to keep them afloat. Without my sharing and my creating of that content they don’t actually have anything of value. It is our collective efforts that help these companies have value. Our content, our videos, our comments. Without any of it, they don’t offer anything. Just a platform. Nothing important. Nothing tangible. Like a table with a white tablecloth awaiting someone else to provide the delicious food, drinks, plates etc to make it a delicious buffet we would actually want to attend.

Then they have the audacity to make us pay more and more money for our content to actually be seen. The worst part is that there is so much content being shared by other “workers” that it leaves most of our readers stuck somewhere between overwhelm and lack of actually getting anything that can truly help us. We are so busy scrolling for fear of missing out that we seldom stop to truly absorb anything at all.

I cannot really help you fully

This is one that I have grappled with for years. I wanted to share on Instagram and the idea of making pretty pictures was certainly fun but it always felt shallow to me. Like it lacked any kind of depth. I couldn’t share my true self. I couldn’t get to the heart of my message within a quick quote or a little cute picture of me sunbaking or taking a photo of what I just had for breakfast. What was I ultimately achieving by being there? Was it to lighten up your day with a quick post of “you are not broken” or “You’ve got this”? Was it to share tidbits of how magnesium could help you with your endo pain? I just never got it.

It also seemed to contradict my philosophy. The whole point of the REACH Technique is that it considers all aspects of our health. Not just one little supplement or one simple idea. It is about really providing for our body with a healing and positive environment.

It is not a healthy environment to hang out in

Every time I tried to get stuck into using Instagram or Facebook I would find myself getting depressed. I initially couldn’t work it out. Then I realised that I was comparing myself to others and believing that their lives were somehow better than mine. I was scared to admit that. Some part of me just thought it was my issue. Turns out there are now countless studies showing how social media affects our mental health and unfortunately it is affecting our young adults the most. Here are some studies showing how Social Media contributes to depression and is particularly prevalent for women.

I found it made me more anxious and overwhelmed. A snapshot of my thought patterns: “I should do that! I need to do more posting! Why haven’t I created a beautiful Instagram feed like this? Oh… look a fabulous new program on how to do that… oh let me buy that… oh bugger how did that happen?”

Overwhelm is a common feeling already

One of the things I have noticed with women that follow my work and within our members’ area is that more and more women are feeling overwhelmed. Interestingly there are some hormonal factors that contribute to this but I believe a big part of this feeling is that we are constantly thinking that we need MORE. More advice, more research, better supplements, better of just EVERYTHING! Wow! Take a breath with me..

Then, we add some fuel to the fire and take a scroll on Social Media and bang, here are 20 more ideas of things you could try or do. Ideas are great and yes, some of the suggestions could help you but when you are perpetually jumping from one thing to the next and trying new things, you are not actually shifting anything long-term. Healing is also only truly found when we connect with ourselves, tune inward and stop seeking and searching believing there is something that needs “fixing”. We are not broken. We just need to support our bodies with the right environment for healing. Does a space that makes us feel overwhelmed really do that? It takes slowing down and it takes sacred spaces. Not rushing, pushing and searching for something external to solve it all. Scrolling frantically worrying about what else we need to know is just not a good feeling and I personally just don’t see how this is supporting true healing for you.

It’s a manipulative environment

The creators of social media platforms want you to be addicted to them. They want you to feel you can’t live without it because the more you are on it, the more you will share and the perpetual loop will continue to make them money. I don’t like knowing that. I don’t like knowing that I am being manipulated. I don’t like that they are continuously trying to do whatever they can to make me want to stay. Some describe this tactic as like using a slot machine and apparently they actually hire people who know how to create that addictive environment. Movies like the Social Dilemna talk way more about this and how scary it is how our data is being used to better sell us more products. I just don’t feel ethically right about being part of this.

Okay… so I think those are enough reasons and I know I am perhaps sounding a little more hyped up about this than I should be.. but a part of me is scared to actually go off social media. What if I do this and I miss out on something important? What if somehow it means I can’t reach you or more readers? I am scared because I have been addicted to it all for so long but I also feel a huge weight being lifted by committing to actually quitting social media.

I looked at a few other ideas for inspiration so if you want more ideas on the subject, check out these posts:

• Why I quit Instagram
• I reclaimed my time and energy by quitting Instagram
• From a business perspective
• From Cosmopolitan 
• Reasons to give up Instagram

So goodbye to Facebook and Instagram – I won’t be sharing my content with you anymore 😉

Connect with me on Mobilize 😉 if you want a private space. 

Otherwise, come here, comment and I’ll respond.