Using Social Media Without Using Social Media – A Creator’s Struggle as a Digital Minimalist.

The power of the groundswell described by Li and Bernoff comes from the changing balance of power from traditional institutions to people. People are using technology to get the things they need from each other such as social connection, information, and other resources. Many companies have been successful in tapping into the groundswell by adopting these technologies and meeting their customers on the networks they are on. Because of this, the digital world has evolved into a complex landscape that is much more difficult to navigate than it used to be.

But what happens when people start realizing social media might not be as great as they thought it would?

I recall some events that made me question my relationship with social media in a post from my magazine, Venus Fly. 

Despite being a part of our everyday lives, social media is a pretty new concept and people are only beginning to realize the long-term effects of it now—specifically the negative effects. It seems ironic that I am writing a post about how social media can potentially be harmful for a course about leveraging social media and reaching your target audience through groundswell technologies. I wanted to address this topic because changes in people’s relationships with social media can greatly affect how brands should approach the groundswell moving forward.

Image Source: Amazon

Cal Newport’s latest book, Digital Minimalism, addresses the reverse side of the topics discussed in this course from the view of a consumer. His main position is that many people do not know how to be intentional with their social media usage and companies have learned to take advantage of that in our attention-based economy. People are starting to realize this compex relationship and are getting uncomfortable as shown in the following passage:

“The source of our unease […] is this feeling of losing control—a feeling that instantiates itself in a dozen different ways each day, such as when we tune out with our phone during our child’s bath time, or lose our ability to enjoy a nice moment without a frantic urge to document it for a virtual audience.” 

- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

As both a consumer and a creator who uses social media and blogging as my main platform, I am conflicted. I wondered would a career in social media be sustainable if it has such a negative impact on my personal life? But as we have learned throughout the course, it’s about the relationships with people, not the technology. In the video below, YouTuber Matt D’Avella addresses this issue and goes through a 30 day social media detox experiment. Ultimately, he is successful and finds other ways to communicate with his audience without ever opening Twitter or Instagram.

There are tons of apps and programs out there for brands to manage social media accounts and help break through the clutter. Perhaps ordinary people like you and me can use them too. What does this mean for the future of social media? What can brands do to reach their audiences better in this complicated environment? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see you next week!