Goodbye, So Long, Farewell
A digital marketer without social media accounts, what could go wrong?
It all happened so fast, I didn’t realize what was happening. I mean, I have been on FB and Instagram for so long, I can’t remember life without them. But through a series of, shall we call them, engagements, with Facebook that lead me to FB jail for 3 days, it started to make me think.
Sometimes in life, you need that jarring moment (dare I say trigger event) to make you wake up. For some it is the death of a loved one, others, a tragic accident or loss of a job. For me, it was Facebook Jail, IMO, treating me unjustly. But not just to blame FB, the thought had been brewing inside my mind, just never to the point of action. We all get these, right…the weekly reminders of how much time we waste. This opened my mind to a series of new questions:
*What the hell am I doing on social media?
*Does my wife think I am cheating on her?
*What am I doing with my life?
*What else could I be doing with my life?
But as fast as the questions would come, they would be dismissed by an update on Instagram or Youtube. Yep, back to the status quo within seconds.
So with my Facebook punishment in effect, I started answering the questions above. 1) I have no clue, but my blood pressure usually goes up. 2) I hope not, I am not. 3) Apparently not a lot, that is going to change though. 4) Anything but spending time on their platforms!
THREE CLOSING THOUGHTS
1) Social media is a “waste void”, a blackhole of unproductively. It siphoned valuable time away from actually building things, like business products & solutions, relationships and my hobbies. The hours I was spending staring at the screen could be used to do actual things I love.
2) Social media is an addictive habit. Ok it’s not as bad as a meth addiction, but if you check your Instagram 83 times a day, you might have a problem. Do YOU have a problem? Can you go without it? For how long? Is what you are seeing online beneficial to your overall mental health? If you are truthful with yourself, I think the answers to those questions will scare you…and they should!
3) They say look around the room and if you don’t see a sucker, you are the sucker. Well, on social media, YOU are the sucker…I mean, product. Facebook and Instagram don’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to give you a “free” platform. They harvest your data. They track you. They make billions advertising to you. Let that sink in. Your data, your photos, your video…all belong to them, and they use that to get rich(er).
So with that, I bid thee a fond farewell to social media (FB, IG and LI). I know you won’t even know I am gone 🙂