Social media pause

As the United States come to a will-they-won’t-they moment of deciding whether to ban TikTok, I’ve had a moment to reflect on my own social media usage.

I quit social media about a week after the last presidential election. It was too much. I needed a break. I’d been so checked in for so long that I felt my nerves were completely shot.

Since then I’ve been off all social media, with a few tiny exceptions, and it’s not part of my life anymore. This is the longest period of time I’ve been off social media, essentially since it started.

That’s not to say this hiatus is forever. I don’t know for sure. But I’m thankful for it, ever so grateful. And I appreciate each of you who read, respond, and are here on this blog and all my podcasts. It’s been a great outlet for sharing my thoughts, but not being part of the never ending universe that is social media.

So if TikTok ends this weekend it will effect me not a bit. That’s not intended as some proud moment. I feel mostly bad for the people who have invested time into building a presence there, building brands, and perhaps making an income from the platform. I don’t like seeing anyone hurt from that.

But, if this just maybes encourages a few people to dust off their blogs and write, then that’d be a small win. If you’re one of those please shoot me your blog. I’d love to read it.

Also, if TikTok continues, maybe it will be a moment where some will question putting their time into a shifting platform where our moments and emotions are under the control of someone else.