Why I quit social media
Launching Edible Ethics back in 2017 was an exhilarating journey. I dove headfirst into the realms of Instagram and Facebook, painstakingly building an enthusiastic and sizeable audience. All the while, pouring my heart into creating captivating website content – which was the real reason I was doing this all.
However, as the summer of 2022 approached, an unexpected decision loomed on the horizon: I made the bold choice to deactivate all of Edible Ethics’ social media pages. Surprising? Perhaps. But I had plenty of compelling reasons behind this unconventional move.
Before delving into my rationale, let’s clarify what I mean by social media, what I bid farewell to, and what I continue to employ to promote Edible Ethics.
What is social media?
Social media refers to online platforms and applications that enable users to create, share, and exchange information, ideas, and content in various formats such as text, images, and videos. Examples include Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
In simpler terms, social media is a virtual space where people spend time interacting with others, sharing their stories, discovering products and services to purchase, and endlessly scrolling through content.
Social media platforms make money because the people using them are ‘products’ that can be bought by companies and brands. This effectively means that users can use these platforms for free because brands pay significant amounts of money to advertise to them.
What social media did I quit?
Here are the social media profiles I deactivated for Edible Ethics:
There are also a few social media platforms that I never signed up for and have chosen not to use: TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
What do I still use?
I continue to use a few platforms to provide extra value to my readers, including:
The reason for using Pinterest is that I don’t see it as a ‘social media’ network, and neither does the founder. Instead, it is more of a bookmarking tool that provides a space for our readers to save our content to come back to at a later date. It also functions as a visual search engine, enabling more potential readers to discover our content. While it is a platform that someone could dedicate a lot of time to, I choose to spend just a small amount of time every morning pinning some content.
YouTube
While YouTube serves as a video-based social media network, I use it to host our supplementary video content that provides our readers with an extra format to consume our content. This is especially beneficial for accessibility purposes and helps keep our website running quickly since the videos aren’t hosted on our site.
The reasons for quitting
When deciding to quit social media there are many arguments for both sides. But for me, the cons far outweighed the pros. Here is a summary:
1. Ethics
Social media is designed to be addictive. Just observe your surroundings, whether it’s on a train, in a coffee shop, or even in a restaurant, and you’ll notice the majority of people are immersed in their phones. They are likely scrolling through meticulously curated feeds of photos or videos from friends or favourite influencers.
We are becoming a social-media-centric society, where everyone’s decisions are influenced by what is presented to them on their phones. This greatly fuels consumerism and the unnecessary purchasing of things we truly don’t need.
As a content creator, I have deeply contemplated this issue. I want to share my thoughts and experiences with others, but I don’t want to impose it on them with the help of nifty algorithms. In other words, I don’t want to become just another content creator/influencer pushing products to my readers that they don’t actually want to buy.
Instead, by focusing on creating website content and promoting it through SEO, my content is consumed by people who actively search for what I write about. They have deliberately chosen to research a specific topic or product.
2. Mental health
This is a deeply personal reason that I believe affects more people than we often realise. Social media can have adverse effects on mental health. It is precisely why I made the decision to delete my personal social media profiles in 2022, followed by deleting the profiles for Edible Ethics.
I found myself spending excessive time comparing myself to others on the internet, mindlessly scrolling, and wasting precious hours. This not only hindered meaningful real-life experiences with the people I truly knew but also contributed to feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress.
Quitting social media felt like a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt light and free. Instead of spending hours a day on my phone, I limited it to just 20 minutes. I started looking up, noticing the sky, trees, and people around me. It was an incredible transformation, reminiscent of a moment from the movie Wall-e.
Recognising the significant positive impact it had on my own mental health, I now grapple with the notion that creating content for social media could potentially reinforce negative habits and contribute to poor mental health in others. We all need to reduce our phone usage, and by showcasing how one can be both an individual and a brand without relying on social media, I hope to inspire more real-life interactions and alleviate the anxiety and depression induced by excessive social media use.
3. Time
Before going full-time with Edible Ethics, I used to run my SEO agency. During those years, I learned the value of time and the importance of wise time management.
Many of the brands I worked with often stretched themselves too thin, attempting to accomplish everything on a limited budget. For example, they would engage in SEO, email marketing, multiple social media platforms, and navigate the world of paid ads simultaneously. This often resulted in team burnout or subpar execution of tasks.
The brands I witnessed achieving great success either had the resources and budget to handle all aspects effectively or chose to focus on specific marketing areas where they excelled.
Given my limited team and budget, I must carefully choose where to invest my time. Considering my experience in SEO, it is logical for me to dedicate the majority of my time to this specific area. Writing high-quality content that can be discovered organically is where my expertise lies.
I supplement this with occasional video content and daily bookmarking on Pinterest. Having experienced the challenges of juggling social media and website management in the early years of Edible Ethics, I am aware of the significant time investment required to build a small following on platforms like Instagram. Therefore, if I were to continue using social media, such as Instagram or TikTok, the hours required would detract from the work I invest in SEO.