When I talk about social media, I refer to my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I am not active on other platforms (like TikTok). My social media activities are entirely limited to my professional life. I do sometimes share private things, but that also serves only the purpose of not appearing too promotional and to show a bit of personality.
Privately, I'm not interested in social media. I prefer to talk to friends face-to-face. I'm really old-fashioned in that respect, but I don't think that's a bad thing at all. On the contrary, I'd rather have someone tell me about their trip over a beer after their vacation than have to follow their travels live on social media.
Professionally, social media is indispensable. If you're not on social media, you practically don't exist. That's a shame, and it's also kind of scary. But it has really become that blatant since people no longer visit websites, but consume everything via social media app.
If you're not on social media, you practically don't exist.
Visibility matters
We all strive for attention. It's in the biology of human beings. For social media, this means we need to broadcast to be seen. But now so many people are broadcasting that we have to broadcast even more to be seen. And when someone broadcasts three, five or ten times a day, it just bugs me. It's too much for me. And at the same time, it means that as a once-a-week sender, I'm no longer noticed at all.
But without being noticed, social media is completely superfluous. It's just not worth it.
And then I listened deep inside myself and found the following other negative aspects for me:
- Social Comparison: Constantly comparing myself to others leads to feelings of inadequacy and anxiety.
- Time Wasting: Mindless scrolling consumes significant amounts of time and reduces my own productivity.
- Constant threat: Because my work is perceived as offensive on social channels, I also feel under constant pressure. It happens very often that accounts are deleted without warning, even if all the content was completely censored and following their guidelines.
And when I then look at the benefits of social media, much of it is not as positive as it first appears:
- Real-time communication: Messengers are fast but in the end things were no worse with e-mail communication.
- Networking opportunities: Communication with models is extremely difficult on Instagram. If a model doesn't follow me, the likelihood of her responding to a request from me is very low. And that frustrates me a lot.
- Business marketing: Social media advertising may work in other areas. But for my services and products, I'm not allowed to run paid ads on the channels. That makes it kind of pointless as well.
Unfollowing accounts
And so, in June, I decided to change my social media behavior. I unfollowed about 1,000 people on Instagram. I'm sure I've offended a few of them, which I'm sorry about, but my timeline was just too full of the same people or people who didn't do me any good. Now my Insta feed is more manageable and that has done a good thing for now.
Ten minutes per day
As a second step, I decided to only spend a maximum of 10 minutes a day on social media. That sounds little, but it's not at all. Because I never found the content there that exciting. Most of the time, there was a lack of context. Often others post photos and just write "GM" (because they're too lazy to write out "Good Morning"). That shows me how little heart and soul goes into the posts. And that's why I don't like to spend much time there.
I don't miss anything
It's been four months now and I don't miss anything. I haven't lacked a thing and I feel better. Finding new photo models is still the biggest problem for my work. But that wasn't any better with excessive social media use. There was just more frustration.
So I can say from my very personal point of view: Social media detox is an enrichment for my life. And even if my visibility has decreased, I still continue eagerly with my own projects.
Since you're reading this article right now, I'm just super happy to see that not all people are only fixated on their social channels. And I mean that sincerely and from the bottom of my heart: thank you for your attention!
I will continue to be active on social channels, but only to a degree that is good for me.
Please note
Social media is different for everyone, depending on where you live and your interests. As a nude photographer who uses social media only professionally, my views are subjective and not universal.