I love so many of your reflections here I kept pausing and thinking about commenting in response to individual points, but kept reading. Your insights are so potent and, in my view, accurate. Thank you for letting us witness you ❤️ this is exactly why I'm here - wouldn't see this kind of depth and transparency on FB or ig.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Danielle. That's the difference here on Substack, right? We can bare our souls without it being just another strategy. I'm so tired of that reality elsewhere. 🌻
Right now I use Instagram to share my Substack articles. I’m not even on Facebook anymore. I don’t miss it at all but it sucks a little bit because it seems like I’m missing out on some social events that some of my women friends seem to only promote to each other on Facebook. Yet at the same time, it was really compromising my mental health.
Like you, I have battled with a kind of comparison game that I knew wasn’t valid or meaningful, but it kind of got me sucked into the sense of what I should be doing. Substack has been an absolute revelation for me. I’m allowed to write whatever I want. There are people who read my writing and actually like it and engage with it.
Have so much to say about it! I never heard of that Instagram account you mentioned with the woman with eight kids, but I found myself getting sucked into that too even though my three children are already young adults …. it taps into a part of me that longs for some kind of ideal lifestyle. Which is hilarious as I am menopausal and again, have three young adults, who are, incidentally, absolutely amazing humans despite the less than Instagram worthy childhood that they had!
Great to see you on here and I look forward to more content !
Thank you for sharing this, Michelle. I look forward to reading your article with a cuppa in hand. ☕️
I'm only using IG to do the same at the moment (share my articles/episodes). Yet because they don't like us doing that and penalise our reach, I wonder if it's a great use of my time.
Your last paragraph is so mind-blowing. It's incredible - and disturbing - how much psychological impact these "little apps" truly have. 🥺
Excellent stuff! 👏 IG, TikTok, Fedbook, they all suck. For now they're a "necessary evil", but soon enough I hope to convert them into "distant memories of a once-necessary evil"... 😝
I am SO with you Aimee'! For the longest time, it felt like a denial of my true nature to go online and be some kind of flashy "influencer". The reality is, I do want influence-we all do. But I want to influence people to a deeper, sovereign, more self-reflective life. Inspiring them to love THEIR Life, not worship mine. I'm excited about the future of substack because of finding people like you!
Great article! Your feelings are valid, and the insta gods know what they're doing. You still have the power to fill your dashboard with good enough mothers and normal people. The risk is that you might spend just a tad less time online ;)
I love so many of your reflections here I kept pausing and thinking about commenting in response to individual points, but kept reading. Your insights are so potent and, in my view, accurate. Thank you for letting us witness you ❤️ this is exactly why I'm here - wouldn't see this kind of depth and transparency on FB or ig.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Danielle. That's the difference here on Substack, right? We can bare our souls without it being just another strategy. I'm so tired of that reality elsewhere. 🌻
I 1000 million percent agree. I wrote this article about my experience of quitting social media. https://open.substack.com/pub/michelledixonwriter/p/i-quit-social-media-for-nearly-3?r=heoec&utm_medium=ios
Right now I use Instagram to share my Substack articles. I’m not even on Facebook anymore. I don’t miss it at all but it sucks a little bit because it seems like I’m missing out on some social events that some of my women friends seem to only promote to each other on Facebook. Yet at the same time, it was really compromising my mental health.
Like you, I have battled with a kind of comparison game that I knew wasn’t valid or meaningful, but it kind of got me sucked into the sense of what I should be doing. Substack has been an absolute revelation for me. I’m allowed to write whatever I want. There are people who read my writing and actually like it and engage with it.
Have so much to say about it! I never heard of that Instagram account you mentioned with the woman with eight kids, but I found myself getting sucked into that too even though my three children are already young adults …. it taps into a part of me that longs for some kind of ideal lifestyle. Which is hilarious as I am menopausal and again, have three young adults, who are, incidentally, absolutely amazing humans despite the less than Instagram worthy childhood that they had!
Great to see you on here and I look forward to more content !
Thank you for sharing this, Michelle. I look forward to reading your article with a cuppa in hand. ☕️
I'm only using IG to do the same at the moment (share my articles/episodes). Yet because they don't like us doing that and penalise our reach, I wonder if it's a great use of my time.
Your last paragraph is so mind-blowing. It's incredible - and disturbing - how much psychological impact these "little apps" truly have. 🥺
It really is!
Excellent stuff! 👏 IG, TikTok, Fedbook, they all suck. For now they're a "necessary evil", but soon enough I hope to convert them into "distant memories of a once-necessary evil"... 😝
I am SO with you Aimee'! For the longest time, it felt like a denial of my true nature to go online and be some kind of flashy "influencer". The reality is, I do want influence-we all do. But I want to influence people to a deeper, sovereign, more self-reflective life. Inspiring them to love THEIR Life, not worship mine. I'm excited about the future of substack because of finding people like you!
Great article! Your feelings are valid, and the insta gods know what they're doing. You still have the power to fill your dashboard with good enough mothers and normal people. The risk is that you might spend just a tad less time online ;)
This is the conundrum: fill my feed with more normal people or eliminate it and live my life elsewhere? I know what I'm currently leaning towards ;)
Love this! I'm new here as well and finding so much of this resonates for me. What a joy to find people who like to wonder and discover and explore.