Why I’m Not Marketing On Social Media In 2026
It’s 11 days into the new year and I have set my goals up for my sticker business that I am quite excited for. I am extremely grateful for the audience I’ve built through Etsy so far after 2 years of having this business. The past two years I never really marketed myself through social media like Facebook, Instagram, and/or TikTok. I actually just turned 33 and I cannot express enough that I am just so sick and tired of social media. This is also a conversation I’d love to see you put in the comments. Are you tired of it too? What are you doing to get yourself out of social media?
Always Being Sold To
Having a small business is cool, and I get that there are people who are creative have gotten lucky through the algorithm to get orders and outreach from people who genuinely care. I have had past business ideas that went into the ground that I had a strong social media presence with and I really hated the process. The never ending content creation was just absolute torture to my mental health all for my videos to not get seen by anyone. I hated seeing me, I hated hearing me, I hated having to edit me.
As a consumer myself I am overwhelmed by seeing nothing but ads from companies I never even followed in the first place. No matter how hard I tried I can never actually see what my friends are up to because I am constantly being sold to. There are some videos that sneak up on my algorithm I wasn’t even aware I was being sold to sometimes. Influencers I used to watch for fun selling out so hard all they do is GRWM videos with nothing but partnered brands as a giant ad without disclosing it’s an ad.
Waste of Time
I catch myself with hours and hours doomscrolling on Instagram Reels getting ragebaited over and over so much I am in a bad mood the rest of the day. Why do this time myself? If my goal is to be more productive and making more art this year I really need to be off of social media so I can focus.
My Solution To Help With Less Time on Social Media
I’m using a detox app on my phone that blocks my ability to use social media apps on my phone. Any apps will work so I am not going to recommend the app unless you really want to know it, maybe I’ll put it in the comments. A week in and so far I really don’t miss Instagram at all.
AI Slop Everywhere
Do I even need to explain myself here? Pinterest is nothing but ads and AI, Facebook is nothing but AI scammers, Instagram is nothing but a huge debate pool about AI and terrible trends with AI. The list goes on and on with all other social media outlets. Why continue the cycle of using social media in the process to help Meta and other companies to train their AI models.
Consumers Are Also Sick of It
I’m not the only person seriously over social media as a whole. A twitch streamer I follow is getting off of social media more and more. His method is to take social media off of his main phone and his secondary form of communication holds the apps there. He’s aggravated over the discourse that he sees so often and how often he gets sold to as well.
Out With the New, In With the Old
There is a trend currently to take away all the new tech because of the forced AI everything into products. People are going back to using iPod Nanos, older phones, and more traditional products that would otherwise be an app on a smart phone. Stepping away from these products that are AI all the time has got to be such a great refresher and I applaud those who do it and even stick with it. I’ll be curious if this is just a trend or if it becomes a subculture. I am hoping building this blog and maybe gaining an audience more through the blog and email I can talk with you in a more intimate way.
If you do see me posting on Instagram, it’s because it was something for fun without the obligatory “link in bio” bullshit that is the comment section. Not that anyone would actually see what I made for fun anyways.
Let me know what you think. I want to start building a community.
