Living without social media is a personal choice. These few days, I’ve been preparing myself mentally to completely quit social media in the next few weeks. I think it’s about time. Yes, there’s no doubt social media has a number of pros, as they allow me to stay connected with friends and family, build professional networks, access news and information, and discover new opportunities, but the cons just outweigh the benefits.
To some people, these challenges such as addiction, distraction, cyberbullying, privacy concerns, and mental health issues are among the negative things they need to address. According to some stories I read online, they feel like having a presence on social media creates pressure to present a perfect life or image, leading to anxiety and stress. There is always a push to keep up with a certain standard be it on the number of followers, material possessions or even life-partner type.
In my case, it’s not all of the above but more towards noise. The reason I want to be active on social media was to be able to build meaningful connections and stay in touch with them as friends. As it turns out, the feed I am getting is truly toxic. And this toxicity is getting to a level where it becomes really annoying. I guess age plays a factor here. I’m going to be 50 this October by the way.
Overwhelming noise and toxicity
I’ve come to the point that social media is giving me a negative impact on life. Rather than pretending everything is going to be okay, it is better if I stay away from it completely. To do that I am looking forward to re-prioritise other aspects of my life, such as spending productive time writing, focusing on my businesses, deepening the quality of friendships within my close circle, reading books and perhaps enjoying road trips during weekdays. I reckon this could be a wise move.
Social media indirectly push me to prioritise other people instead of myself and my family. It somehow creates a hole in me as if whatever I am doing or things I already owned aren’t enough. In a way, it also creates a sense of what they called FOMO or fear of missing out.
Despite the fact that social media plays an essential part in my professional life since it can easily assist me in securing new clients and keeping my brands memorable, I am planning to push this more from the brands’ respective social media Pages rather than my own. I’m no Elon Musk. Being a very popular billionaire running multiple brands such as Tesla, Twitter, SpaceX and a few more giants, he markets those brands through his tweets across 133 million followers of his on Twitter. And he is okay with massive criticism coming to him left, right and centre. I would definitely go mental if I’m in his shoes, that’s for sure.
LinkedIn equals the ultimate tool for networking, I don’t think so
I love LinkedIn. I’ve been active here since 2013. The platform helped me build genuine friendships and generate hundreds of thousands worth of contracts for my consulting company as a result of it. As a matter of fact, it also helped me to exit from my previously-owned content platform, Marketing In Asia, too.
Sadly, LinkedIn has dramatically changed since the pandemic. There is unfortunately too much noise and toxicity flying around the main feed. It is edging closer to becoming Facebook. I left Facebook years ago because of this and now I am going to leave LinkedIn for the same reason. There is nothing left here on LinkedIn that benefits me.
Is there a way to build and grow a networking circle without LinkedIn? This is the very question I asked myself day-in-day-out. Fortunately, there are. Being a little introvert myself, attending a conference, industry gathering or joining a professional group or association would be the last thing on my mind. Yet, there are others which I believe are more subtle, suitable and practical in nurturing friendships long-term.
- A one-to-one coffee session with my close buddies.
- A small group gathering with friends.
- Ask for referrals or introductions.
- Grow visibility on search engines and be searchable.
I like to generate leads at the right time, at the right moment. I hate to push my luck by taking advantage of a social gathering to talk about business. I keep reminding myself that building a strong network is not just about talking business all the time but also about maintaining and nurturing the relationships I already have talking about things that matter. Genuinely staying in touch with my contacts, offering to help others when I can, and being genuine and authentic in my interactions are what matters. By doing these sincerely, leads will definitely be generated and it will be a matter of time when that happens.
I want to spend time writing quality articles too. I’ve been dragging my feet for a long time now, and keep forgetting that blogging is an effective way to increase my visibility on search engines and attract new customers to my consulting business. By creating high-quality, informative, and engaging content that resonates with my target audience, I can firm up myself as an experienced subject matter expert in marketing strategy and eventually build trust with potential customers.
Conclusion
I’m almost ready to live life without social media, and it is about time. And I’m looking forward to experiencing what it’s going to be like. My businesses however will remain on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for now.
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