What I Learned by Deleting my Social Media Apps.
Earlier this year, I reached 5,000 followers on Instagram and received the ability to provide links in my stories. Simultaneously reaching those two “goals” in one day left me surprisingly uninspired. “What Now?” I kept asking myself, which led me down the rabbit hole of questioning why I had goals surrounding my social media account in the first place. I quickly realized the idea of growing my account for the sake of growing my account felt pretty pointless and began questioning why I was on social media so much. This led to me reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport per the recommendation of a friend and take a 30 day break from digital technology. Here are my 5 biggest takeaways from that experiment.
1.) You do not have to be on social media very much to reap the benefits of them. A little usage goes a long way. (in fact most of the rich or successful people that I look up to do not use social media very much).
2.) Not everything need be documented. While in the throes of New England Foliage for my cousins wedding, I found myself tempted to capture instagram stories as we passed by all the autumnal trees but then I realized the images would never do it justice and does anyone really care??
3.) Most social media accounts can live just on your computer. There’s no need to be connected all the time. In fact we aren’t really built to take in everything all at once all the time.
4.) Just being logged out of accounts (and not having my login info remembered) is sometimes enough to keep me from going on social media if it was just a mindless venture. Instagram doesn’t have a good desktop version that’s really my only exception to the point above. My workaround for that is that I log out when I am done.
5.) In order to sustain a a life with less social media, you must replace those habits with more meaningful ones.
Love,
Meredith
Mandatory Puppy Pic.
Scout w/My Dad and his girlfriend’s dog Avi over my recent visit to New England.
Lately I’ve been jamming out to Bruno Mars and Anderson .Pakk”s new album Silk Sonic.
I also really loved this podcast episode from Gala Darling about deleting your instagram app on the weekends.
My must-haves of the moment: VivoLife Banana Cinnamon Protein Powder and everything from Branch Out Cafe.
If you are interested in seeing me in Grinch, you can find my tour schedule and ticket info here.
If you have made it this far, THANK YOU, I’m so glad you are here. If you have enjoyed this newsletter and want to support me you can: forward this email to a friend you think would enjoy it, Venmo me at @meredithaleighawells, or hire me to perform and/or speak at your next event! :)
Thanks for being here.
Love,
Mer
Looking forward to seeing you at the Muny in Sister Act!!