I'm tired of social media. They massively drain me. Is there a better route?

[Guest SirVladimir]

So I am a writer. I have an Instagram, i.e. the link in the signature below, but also created a Facebook page recently.

I feel like being active on social media has taken a toll on me. It's the constant flow of information; like a tiring wheel on a river; like this groaning monster you have to feed with more information. 

Your beautiful perspectives would be highly appreciated, because I am having a hard time on this one despite all the wonderful breakthroughs in life purpose and elsewhere.  Here are the basics of it once again, if that information helps you somehow:

My Zone of Genius: Exploring the beauty of the Universe.

Impact statement: To capture a human heart in immersion, taking it on a journey.

Ideal medium: Writing.

My #1 Question in life: Where lies the border between possible and impossible?

My top values: 

1. Tranquility+Beauty+Adventure (interconnected)
2. Intimacy 
3. Humor (Hope)

My top strength: Appreciation of beauty and excellence.

The Life Purpose: To bring people to authenticity and love by overwhelming them with Beauty.

The issue I have with social media is that it drains my energy, and the flow state I am in when working inside my Zone of Genius is broken. It's like riding the afterglow.

I must say, however, that being active on Facebook for the short while rather than on Instagram has already felt better. Maybe I have started on the wrong field altogether; because on Facebook, unlike on Instagram, there are Groups of like-minded people, and therein I can seek my audience a thousand times easier, i.e. psychonauts.

I have also been thinking of means such as contributing to magazines, and I am also planning to contact and cooperate with people with larger audiences in this field, mainly on YouTube. 

I must declare, however, that just by writing this post, I've gained some clarity myself. I have a tingling sense that the issue will be framed within the sphere of being active in the right place with the right people; this is because I could hardly consider the audience on Instagram a target; I have used the platform for writing much before knowing my Life Purpose; and therefore I may be feeling a sort of dissonance.

I imagine some of you are much more skilled in the fieId of marketing, though I know a thing or two. What would you do in my place? And I shall also ask the original question; are social media something mandatory if I have a worldwide audience?

Thank You. 

Edited August 17, 2020 by SirVladimir

[mathieu]

2 hours ago, SirVladimir said:

I feel like being active on social media has taken a toll on me. It's the constant flow of information; like a tiring wheel on a river; like this groaning monster you have to feed with more information. 

It looks like you were hitting resistance. Social media is only a tool, like money.. you just hold it when you use it, but not letting the tool hold you. Some reasons I know for sure why you hit walls sometimes is when you try to "initiate." Why urge to push your self on the market?? lots of traps going on there. sometimes your mind has lots of agenda in it. Why not listen to your body?

[Guest SirVladimir]

5 hours ago, mathieu said:

It looks like you were hitting resistance.

For certain I were. And am. I think it has to do with authenticity. And the audience I currently have. I feel that one ideal follower I gain through a Facebook Group is worth a thousand others. Because I know that they use psychedelics; that they want to go for that experience; that they know my intention the best.

[mathieu]

@SirVladimirgood luck with that! you're doing great. woooooowwwwwwww

[Michael569]

12 hours ago, SirVladimir said:

I must say, however, that being active on Facebook for the short while rather than on Instagram has already felt better. Maybe I have started on the wrong field altogether; because on Facebook, unlike on Instagram, there are Groups of like-minded people, and therein I can seek my audience a thousand times easier, i.e. psychonauts.

I am finding social media interaction extremely challenging and draining as well mostly because it feels so inauthentic. I know I need to base portion of my marketing on it to be able to attract clients so I can leave my 9-5 but it feels like shitting all over my values so often. None of the posts are low-consciousness garbage so maybe that's why the interaction is so poor. 

If you find a conscious way to do social media, get interaction and feel happy about it please make a post and tag me 

[fridjonk]

4 minutes ago, Michael569 said:

None of the posts are low-consciousness garbage so maybe that's why the interaction is so poor. 

Have you by chance read Purple Cow or This is Marketing? I'd guess you have. 

But I wouldn't blame low engagement on it being "too high of a conscious post" for the normie out there. 

Key with Facebook marketing is to test a shit ton of creatives to see what resonates with customers, and knowing how to structure a brand around it as you probably know. 

[Guest SirVladimir]

1 hour ago, Michael569 said:

If you find a conscious way to do social media, get interaction and feel happy about it please make a post and tag me 

I have been pondering it throughout the day. I identified the source of my incogruence as to 'not having an honest conversation with the consumer.'

It reeks of my core fear, really; that 99% of everything I've done so far on Instagram is useless and that I will have to start over, only this time with a narrowed down, very specific audience so far found on Facebook (and on some forums) - people who actively use psychedelics and look for new experiences such as reading under a dose.

Without this audience - and specifically this audience - the authenticity drops drastically. I then feel like I have to 'win over' the reader, whereas with the ideal audience I can have an honest, authentic chat.

Edited August 17, 2020 by SirVladimir

[Brittany]

On 8/17/2020 at 0:44 AM, SirVladimir said:

It's the constant flow of information

I don't scroll anymore. I look at one resource at a time. And when I am done, I move unto the next resource.

Slow down.

The flow of information you take in depends on you.

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Brittany It's a good approach to pace yourself indeed; I myself have developed a good instinct about when it's time to stop. I apologize that I didn't make myself more clear right away - about what I was referring to in the post - that the flow of information is an effort you have to put in if you wish for an audience. 

Quote

like this groaning monster you have to feed with more information.

I explain it further in my replies above. 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by SirVladimir

[Yog]

This is what I did to keep the internet from filling my mental RAM and draining y willpower Hope you will find it useful.

I found out that I have way more control over it this way, rather than it having control over me and killing both my will, clarity of mind and motivation.

I also learned that using willpower and focusing on discipline will always be fruitless if you do not engineer your environment to work for you. If your environment is engineered to help you do what you want, discipline and willpower will be effortless.

Phone:
-Deleted all social media apps from phone, including messenger.
-Be extremely wary of apps where you can scroll, that is a slot machine. Including this forum. It can addict you and wreck you.
-Kept only really useful and productivity apps on it. Only crucial apps.
-The ones I liked to binge, but still needed them work wise (eg: discord, slack, viber),
I locked them with time based app-locker app, my allowed time on them being 15 minutes.
-Placed all these apps in a folder that is located on the upper corner of the third screen.
-On the first screen I have, Notion, calculator, google translate, time-boxing app and that is all.
-Turn off all notifications.
-Turn off cell data and wi-fi, if you can allow yourself turn on airplane mode.
-Leave your phone in a drawer, or just in another room.
-If I go outside, its in a backpack, not in pocket.

PC:
-Installed LeechBlock (Stay-Focused for Chrome). Its a web blocking app.
-Configured it to block all websites, excluding banking sites and food ordering sites.
-The only unblocked time is 5pm-7pm. This is the period where I use anything internet related.
-Check messages, mails, reply, write what I had to, post stuff that I have to. Its important to be very deliberate.
-All the other hours, there is no internet. Its blocked.
-If I want to use the internet for any emergency reason I will have to type a difficult random 64 character password.
-This will allow me to use the web for 15 mins and lock it again.
-If I want to change the settings of the browser and stop this "madness", I will have to unlock the access by taking an usb stick, opening several heavy password protected archives and inside open a png containing a random character password, type that in. Its too much effort, so you easly stick with the plan.

I try to end my sessions with 10-15 min of meditation. Just to make sure there are no residual random thoughts haunting me.

I bet you can do all your social media stuff in 30 mins. Those 2 hours are actually way more than I usually need.
If someone writes something on your posts ect, its ... easy, you reply the next day during your internet time. You don't dwell on it, no need to have that in your mental RAM. You need your RAM for your actual LP, not some random cache files.

You do not have to do this big of an overkill ofc.. lol... this is just....what works for me.

This chart might help too, if you factor in the mindless internet consumption that can happen as instant gratification.
 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Yog

[Guest SirVladimir]

@Yog Hey. That's some detailed muse right there. But as I said above, this isn't a case of addiction.

That's why I posted it in the section Life Purpose, Career, Entrepreneurship.

I've untangled it a bit in the replies above. I'm asking the same question as Michael, "How to do social media consciously while still having engagement and still being happy?"

 

[Yog]

@SirVladimir 

Yeah. I know man. I got the feeling that you will get that vibe.
I am just not sure you can do that. I think the same advice applies here too.

The very design of these social media platforms is build around attention harvesting, sold for user behavior modification. Think about it.

That is why we don't pay 12$ a month for using them, we pay with our attention. There are people that work for these companies as attention designers , they design things to make sure you stay on their platform, its the same people that design casino slot machines, they design addiction. Its in the very design of the platforms, working trough stories, news-feed, linked accounts, UI, notifications to make you addicted, the design even works if you are offline and if you are not on your phone, it will get you back on it. Its not just that they want only your attention, its that you don't get to chose where it goes, via subtle tricks, that are beyond our perception, this attention will be directed. Its not in the business interest that you chose, that leaves too many variables in the game, its better if we are left, or even better, made unconscious and this attention than can be directed, leaving you with the illusion of choice.

Its basically mind hacking. The longer you stay exposed to the hack, the more it will be able break trough.

My main point behind this is that it will not only waste your time, the design works on your dopamine circuit and it will wreck it, leaving you unhappy and unmotivated, it will also make you susceptible to other high dopamine activities, such as, junk food, alcohol, games, porn ect. If you get the feeling/urge that you need to check something on FB or Insta, it means that the hack worked.

I've tried ways of dealing with it, all have failed miserably for me, still I liked many of the features these platforms offer, so I gave my best to find a solution of how to use them consciously. This was the only one that has worked.

Be deliberate, know before hand exactly what will you do, do it, and get out, the firewall list I wrote before helps a lot too.

Hope it still helps. If you find another way that works, I'd be glad to hear it.

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Yog

[Guest SirVladimir]

Update in a separate thread here.

Thank you all for taking your time. Appreciated. I'll take your advice to heart. 

[Tom T]

social media is bullshit, delete all your personal accounts and only use it for business and marketing purposes if you have to!  I deleted all my socials a year ago and never looked back!  fuck social media!