Why I’m Quitting Social Media
Over the last few years, I’ve been on a steady decline toward this position. My Instagram career started accidentally, my family is an entrepreneurial one and among the many business endeavors we’ve ventured upon we took a large leap of faith and opened a menswear brand. Due to this, at the age of 16 I became a designer, a model, sales, event staff, and a marketer in a short amount of months.
Normally, any person who wants to start a clothing brand would be someone I’d advise to rethink their passions but granted, this was before “the bubble.”
What is the bubble you ask? Read this to find out.
Anyway, during this time period starting at 2012 over the next 4 years. I was not only featured in numerous social media posts on model pages, but additional on e-commerce and event advertisements. I collaborated with branda like Coca-cola, sprite, tostitos, and more through influencer firma such as Social Native and Influence Co, and I created a blog called The Step, which at its height had roughly 1,000 readers while my Instagram following grew to roughly 18K.
Shortly after this however, many things happened. After graduating high school and three years of my undergraduate studies I was tired. This coupled with the usual college social obligations and my growing responsibilities within the family menswear brand as well as a full time job to cover living expenses put a large strain on my time.
Additionally, while perusing my Bachelors of Arts in Creative Writing I came to two realizations that changed my life:
1) If it doesn’t matter to me, then it doesn’t matter at all.
2) Everyone wants to be an influencer.
This life is short, I wanted to persue my passions, I wanted to apply the skills I learned into new ideas without financial or structural constraints. Furthermore, I had begun providing marketing services and consultation for small businesses and fledgling influencers. I saw not only the oversaturation of the market, but additionally I understood the deep yearning within all people to be validated and why it was hindered by lack of passion and follow through. Person after person came to me in hopes of starting blogs, businesses, brands, music careers and more. I saw friends, family, and acquiantances, exposing themselves in public ways that were deeply rooted in the wrong virtues. I was no longer fulfilled by social media, the (minor) additional income it provided, or in the content I was creating.
So I made changes. Throughout the remainder of my undergraduate studies I created an online publication, published multiple works of literature and literary art, wrote an album, and traveled extensively. (Mind you: half for work, half for personal enjoyment) But as I tried to express myself more, I lost support from many of my followers who had come to know me as a fashion blogger/influencer, I stopped collaborating or creating sponsored posts, I lost more than eight-thousand followers and counting. But who cares.
I’ve seen the falsehood, I’ve seen the lack of integrity, I’ve worked the extra hours, I’ve slaved over content, and I’ve lost respect in all of the fake people, posting their fake lives, for their fake friends and other people they call followers at other times. Furthermore, According to the World Health Organization, in the year 2020, approximately 1.53 million people will die from suicide.There is increasing evidence that this behavior of using social media affects and changes people's lives, especially in teenagers. [cite: Gvion, Yari; Apter, Alan (December 2012). "Suicide and Suicidal Behavior". Public Health Review. 34 (2): 9.
All of this struggle, all of this work, and social media still accounted for less than 2% of my annual income, and less than 2% of my companies annual sales. Not even to mention the lack of psychological studies and data to coorelate. (Seriously I looked)
Many will disagree with me, many will be upset with my claims. But this is my belief. I won’t delete my Instagram, but I won’t be posting besides small advertisements on my story. I will still be using Instagram for various companies in my work as a marketer. This blog will remain active independent of social media.
In summary:
- over saturated market, too many influencers.
- an independent influencer brand that I can maintain and feel passionate about isn’t in the books right now.
- if you don’t like it, don’t bother.
- keep your instagram private, don’t create a personal brand while sourcing your personal network to improve your social network.
Fin