I have been racing full tilt to grow a social media presence. After some success on a number of platforms, I stopped to ask myself “Why”?
I realised that I don’t have a good answer. It’s supposed to be the thing to do. But why? To grow a business? To be popular? To educate / communicate? I have little interest in any of those reasons. I do this primarily for relaxation, to take my mind off work. So I’m left asking myself the question again. Why?
I get enough commercial photography and design work in my day job and side gigs. Spending increasing amounts of time and effort growing social media just eats up what little leisure time I have. I am not hoping to build a retail empire, or retire from my day job. I began doing this whole thing for fun. And it stopped being fun some time ago.
What this all means is that when I go out on my excursions around Niagara I have been focussed on getting photos and video to put online. Rather than enjoying the outing. Which is, frankly, nuts. So I’m not gonna do that any more. I will take photos when, and if, I want. Not because I ‘have’ to. And I am also dialling down the frequency of my postings, because even I am getting tired of the aggessive amount of reposts to groups and platforms that I find myself doing. I have some very nice faithful followings, for which I am truly grateful… but I see less and less interactions with those followings.
I attribute this to two main reasons. First, overload. I feel I post too much too often, and people either just stop seeing the posts or block me, like an unwanted ad. Second, I feel my content is just not up to the standard it used to be. Both of these are squarely on me. I can cut down on the frequency of posts. And by concentrating on photography and video I can get the quality back up the standards I want and both I and my followers expect. And along the way, I might start to enjoy myself again. Which is, after all, why I do all of this in the first place.
Here’s a video about these home truths. I already feel better now the decision has been made. The cord is cut. I still dangle at the end of it. This is not a decision made lightly. Going from thousands of likes and clicks to obscurity is hard. Social media is addictive. It’s made that way. But it takes over your life, and I am taking mine back. Watch this space for improvements to my photos and me.
Prints and products for all images by request.
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