Hello, everyone! Today’s post pertains to something I’ve wanted to discuss for a while now. . .
∇ Why I Deleted This Blog’s Social Media Platforms ∇
Background –
Before the deletion of this blog’s social media platforms, I had Instagram and Pinterest. Both were called Smarts and Sparkles, and for a while, I had really enjoyed keeping up on them and how much traffic they were driving to my blog.
On Pinterest, I had over 300 followers, which I had acquired in the span of about 4 and a half months.
I had Instagram for the blog for about one month, and almost 100 followers.
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So yes, I noticed better performance and increased traffic with my blog, and its popularity was growing. Not exponentially, but enough to satisfy me. However, I noticed a decreased performance from me.
I spent so many hours on the Social Media platforms, and I feel like they kind of took a toll on me emotionally.
Differences I Noticed About Myself:
- I was always checking to see if I had more followers. If I didn’t, I felt like I was doing something wrong or that what I had on a platform wasn’t good enough.
- My levels of self-esteem and confidence dropped a little if I’m being honest. I’m not saying I wasn’t confident or had high self-esteem because that’s something I work hard to maintain – What I mean is that I didn’t spend as much time on myself as I should have.
- I didn’t go outside as much. No, I didn’t isolate myself – but I was on my phone and computer a lot more than I normally am or should be.
- I felt more groggy from sitting in front of a screen so long.
These are just a few things I noticed, but it was enough to make me stop and think about how these things were affecting me.
Keeping up on these platforms was also extremely draining. It was stressful to keep up with everything, especially Instagram. . .
So What Did I Do?
I deleted them both. I deleted my Instagram first because I started to hate it. Pinterest was deleted about a month later.
I noticed so many things:
I started to enjoy life more, and gain an even more positivie outlook on things now that I didn’t have to look at the sometimes awful things trending on Instagram or Pinterest. My confidence and self-esteem levels only got higher, now that I wasn’t working everyday to please others with an image or idea of what my life/blog is like. I spent more time outside and exploring new things!
It’s funny – I never expected to get so sucked into the social media world, but I did. Without even knowing it at first. It’s crazy how different – how much better and less stressful my life was without these platforms. What I’m writing may sound exaggeratory to some of you, but this was truly my experience.
But. . . Which Platform Was Worse?
Which took a toll on me more?
That’s easy.
Instagram, 100%.
Why?
- I spent so many hours on that platform.
- The things that would pop up in my feed or what was trending would be things I did not like.
- People follow you and unfollow you *snaps* like that. The platform definitely made me feel bad from time to time.
- I didn’t like the atmosphere as much as Pinterest.
- SOOO many accounts are inappropriate/spam, and I just don’t go for that stuff. No way.
I still have a low-profile, personal Pinterest account, but not Instagram. That’s gone for good right now. I’m even debating deleting my personal Pinterest, and just going completely social media free. I still don’t like how much time I spend on it, or what you can find on Pinterest. I’m noticing the things on the trending page just get worse and worse.
But if a social media filled lifestyle is the way you want to live your life or run your blog, go ahead. I’m not berating how you do things, I promise.
But for those of you out there who are like me, or are experiencing some of the same things I did when I had social media, then this might be a sign for you to gradually extract yourself from it. It’ll probably be better for you in the long run. . .
Do you have social media, or did you do away with it? I want to hear your stories and your opinions!
What type of posts would you like to see next? I was thinking of doing a post about My Beauty Must-Haves. Would you like that?
Wait – Don’t go yet!
While you’re here, check out some other posts I think you’ll LOVE!
- The Key to Success for Every Beginning Blogger
- Think About It . . .
- Pinterest Features That You NEED to Know About – Grow Traffic, Come up With Trendy Blog Post Ideas, and Discover What Your Audience is Engaged in.
♥ Thank you! ♥
Thanks for the advice! I do not have either one of them, but I did start Twitter. It’s low key, because I do not like putting so much effort into it. WordPress is my main thing.
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Glad you liked it! 😀 I agree, I don’t want anything more high-maintenance than it has to be, ahaha.
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I completely agree about Instagram – 100%. It’s draining, can make you feel worthless, and is filled with fake accounts and dropkicks that use the follow/unfollow method (I block those buggers hahaha). I have to keep my account though because it’s for my ‘author’ brand – whenever I get around to publishing my novels! It’s also the one I use to contact my friends. Anyway, great post 🙂
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Thank you! Glad you liked it! ❤ I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who feels this way about Instagram, haha. I think the concept is great but it's just been overtaken by spam and.. garbage, really. Hopefully one day it'll become a better space to share. Can't wait for when you decide to publish a novel – I'll read it. 😉
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