The Social Media Switchup
How I got here
I’ve been active on Instagram for about 9 years. I’ve experienced going viral in 2016 for an anti-plantation wedding story, going viral in the wedding industry in 2020 to highlight Black joy not just our deaths, and a complete brand relaunch in 2021.
I’ve met some incredible people because of it. But something about 2024 is calling me to experiment with how I show up online.
Why something has to change
I spend the majority of my day reacting. I want to spend my time creating. I want to spend my time enjoying. I want to spend my time existing. But my brain has been in this hellish loop that to “get ahead” and to “make it” I need to do what everyone else is doing.
But…I don’t want to?
My chats are overrun with reels as talking points. Most of which are entertaining. We need entertainment. But I’ve relied on this entertainment to avoid processing my feelings and to procrastinate care and rest.
I’ve lost hours I can’t get back to videos I can’t even really remember. Did they make me chuckle? Of course. Were they comforting? Sure. But did they do anything beyond that? Did they reach beyond the screen and get me to do something? No.
If you find genuine joy from being online, go for it. But I don’t anymore and I have a feeling most of us don’t. I’ve had too many conversations with fellow business owners who are beating themselves trying to master every trend, every feature for a crumb of attention. We’re tired.
We’ve been inundated with shifts and changes since 2016 and our nervous systems are struggling to regulate in a world determined to implode on itself.
I’ve lost hours I can’t get back to videos I can’t even really remember.
The distraction isn’t working anymore. Instagram isn’t fun (to me) anymore. I rarely see the content from the people I follow and like. Everyone’s reach is down. It reminded me that these platforms aren’t really built for us. A question that I’ve had to ask myself and I want you to ask yourself is, do you even like social media? Do you enjoy it? If that answer is anything less than an enthusiastic yes, please check your phone to see how much time you’ve spent on an app already today. Then ask yourself why you’re still there…and be honest.
The Impact of Distraction
Do you reach for your phone first thing in the morning? Is it next to you when you go to bed?
I ran an experiment on myself this past year.
When I went to bed without my phone, it took me 15 minutes on average to fall asleep and I’d have the deepest and most productive sleep I possibly could.
But what about when I had my phone? It would take me closer to 90 minutes to fall asleep once I was in bed. I would watch youtube videos or scroll reddit or Instagram and fall asleep to that. I also woke up more times during the night in comparison to nights without my phone. Is it a surprise that I wouldn’t wake up feeling rested?
The nights after I’d fall asleep with my phone would become the mornings that the first thing I’d reach for was…my phone.
I felt conditioned to surrender my attention as soon as I woke up. I’m tired of surrendering my attention to things that I don’t earnestly care about and can’t impact or change.
The Election
After this election I had to have another moment with myself. I’ve watched how political movements have gotten muddled and misunderstood because of the sheer amount of noise.
…and there’s more noise than ever right now.
When I asked myself what I want to give my energy to moving forward, social media didn’t make the top twenty. Because as fun, comforting, and entertaining as it is, I need people, I don’t need social media.
I want conversations. Social media isn’t where conversations happen. It’s where a lot of conversations go to die. Cultural discourse happens and that can be impactful, but the real work happens face to face.
Last term, 45 used the tactics of “deny and distract” to keep us disconnected and despairing.
But we know better now. They will overwhelm us with lies, deny the lies, distract us with other lies, and corporate media will inundate us with coverage with little context or rebuttal.
To fight that, I need to be connected to my community and to my joy. I need to reclaim my attention. I need to be here now. We all do.
Because as fun, comforting, and entertaining as it is, I need people, I don’t need social media.
My job is simple: holding space for you to rest to reclaim your joy; Helping you learn how to be present to manage your energy, attention, and time so you can actually live.
The best version of that doesn’t happen in 90 seconds or carousels. It happens live. It happens when you have time to digest and reflect on what you just heard. It needs space to breathe.
Changes
I can’t help you manage your attention while also contributing to why it’s shot.
I’ve been thinking about all of this and how fickle these platforms really are. TikTok is due to be banned in about a month. Do you remember what happened to Vine? What happens if this all goes away? How would we find one another?
So here’s what we’re doing in 2025:
Creating space for the community to learn within our RestLab offers.
Creating space for the community to rest in RestLab Recess. This monthly community call is only available to subscribers of our email list or by referral. Because our communities have to be vetted.
Creating space for the community to stay connected via our email list. Join us for tips, tricks, and access to RestLab Recess. This is where the largest share of our reflections and reminders will be posted.
As for social media platforms, we’ll be focusing most of our activity on LinkedIn. Why? Something about it being cringingly transparent about its intention is soothing. There’s no pretense. Also because it’s the best for connecting to progressive organizations’ decisionmakers who need team burnout recovery support.
For Instagram we’re moving to seasonal 9 grids. We know Meta platforms aren’t going away anytime soon. But I do get to renegotiate my relationship to them. We all do. I want to focus on holding space for you to rest, so the content will be a mix of education and reminders on how to access our spaces.
Facebook will point folx to our LinkedIn.
You get to determine how you want to use these platforms. Remember that. We’re looking forward to experimenting with what works for us. We encourage you to do the same. Where do you want to focus your time and energy in 2025? 💖
