Purging Social Media As a Content Creator {How Are You Spending Your Time Currency?}

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Have you ever dreamed about going off of social media?

I have – a lot of times.

There were two things that kept me on social media:

Family and friends back home
My blog fan pages

I have had a love-hate relationship with social media. I love the adrenaline rush of seeing likes, comments, shares, and all of that stuff we know is sinister about it….

and hate the feeling of constantly being overwhelmed by it.

A picture of the author and a screenshot of a smartphone with apps

Every day I’d feel overwhelmed by having to share a blog post, a Bible verse or a meme on my fan page that would get very little interaction.

I felt overwhelmed by the drive of having to feed the algorithm so that my page wouldn’t be ignored or not pushed out in people’s feed.

And then one day I said enough.

I was done trying to feed that beast. I was done trying to hustle online.

In this video, I shared how social media promotion gave me the feeling of being in a giant stadium of millions of people all shouting over one another…

and I was constantly grabbing the loudest, most obnoxious megaphone I could find, and trying to be the loudest person in the room.

It was exhausting!

So, I purged social media!

On July 26, 2024, I took a big step and closed down all of my Instagram accounts.

I closed down my TikTok.

I closed down the Facebook fan page I’d invested in for over a decade —

I deleted all social media off of my phone (except Instagram, which I use for my client’s social media management).

I expected to feel panicky – especially after deleting my Facebook fan page.

Instead – I felt light! I felt giddy!

But – then I found a new black hole and fell right in.

YouTube.

In the interest of full transparency, it wasn’t an entirely new black hole – it just became even deeper than before.

You see, I love learning.

I love podcasts and documentaries. I love commentary.

And now I had a lot of extra time to cram all of this information in my head. And it was as much a time-suck as dumbscrolling ever was!

Last night – August 23, 2024 – I disabled YouTube on my phone.

Even though I have Audible, where I listen to audiobooks and podcasts, it’s not the same trap that YouTube is.

You see, I realized something last night that made it all make sense.

I realized just how addicting the endless scroll feature really is!

I would unconsciously avoid listening to audiobooks and podcasts because I liked the adrenaline surge I would get from the endless scroll and refresh features on YouTube.

Even when I knew there wasn’t anything new or edifying to watch!

And then the Lord convicted me about my time currency

Oh friends, the conviction was so strong!

And that’s why I recorded this video today about how we spend our time currency.

Before I give you that video, I want to let you know a few things:

1. You can still connect with me online – just in a more personal way

You can get regular emails from me. While it’s true that I am sending out emails more often now, they are shorter, chatty, and not filled with a bunch of images.

Just me chatting in your inbox. Go here to sign up

You can also join one of my chat groups. I’m on Whatsapp and Telegram.

2. I am back on my YouTube channel, uploading a few times a week, and also share those videos as a podcast.

So, I haven’t disappeared, I’m just a lot more intentional about how I use my time.

But before I close, I have a question:

How are you spending your time currency?

In Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable about a master who went out on a journey, but first gave each of his three servants a sum of money.

In the parable, Jesus calls them talents.

Those weren’t gifts and abilities, but a type of currency.

Two of the servants invested their gift and earned more. One buried his and earned nothing.

The one who earned nothing was thrown out and his talent was given to the first servant.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the expression we use is spending time.

Just like with money, we invest our time, and either receive a benefit or lose an opportunity, all depending on our choice of investment.

Dear friends – social media is a poor investment!

I know in the past I’ve written about using social media as an opportunity to evangelize.

And while I still stand by that post today, it’s a lot harder now for our voices to be heard on social media than it was years ago when I first wrote that post.

There were no algorithms back then.

There was no barrage of advertisers to compete with back then.

And the addictive quality of social media wasn’t as pervasive and sinister as it is today.

For me, social media has become a question of diminishing returns.

Investing hours of my time for little-to-no benefit eternally.

And now, I am looking for ways to reach my readers directly, personally – because I want my investment to have eternal benefits!

Furthermore, I want to have more time to invest eternally in my family – and in face-to-face relationships with those I do life with on a personal level.