Taking a Social Media Break: How 400 Posts in a Year Stole My Passion for Art

In 2024, I posted almost every day on social media, sometimes twice a day (over 400 posts in 365 days). While a lot of my content was from scheduled posts, I  for sure did much more posting and scrolling than I did painting. I saw an eye opening fact the other day that 2 hours a day on your phone = 1 month of your year. That's 1 month of precious time-life-being stolen from you by your phone. That got my attention! Yes,I run a viable business online and by consistently posting last year, my instagram followers grew 74%. However, while my business grew, my inspiration and passion for my art declined, and I began to feel like a slave to my device. Comparison and the feeling of “not doing enough”, in both my personal and business life, haunted me daily.

Side note: While my overall business, this includes online and in person art courses, art sales and other forms of business related income, increased 149% in 2024, I cannot directly correlate it to instagram/social media alone. I schedule my Instagram and Facebook posts through the iphone app Business Suite (which is now very outdated), and sometimes scheduled directly through Meta, however that has to be done from my computer which is not always available to access--I do a lot of scheduling on the fly-while waiting for appointments, etc. Anyway, in addition to posting consistently last year and growing my instagram following, I also consistently grew my email list and sent out a bi-monthly email and grew my YouTube following by 100% by posting monthly videos. All this to say, not sure if it was really "worth it" in the grand scheme of things.

 What I can directly correlate to my constant attention to my social media is anxiety. Anxiety from being a slave to my device. Anxiety from the frustration of spending time and energy on content and photos and not having anyone even "see" or "heart" them. Anxiety of not doing enough, or the right things. Anxiety of seeing my "to-do" list continue to grow because of my drive to keep up with what others were doing. Anxiety of not having time to just paint and create without feeling like it had to be content for others. Anxiety of having "work" to do ALL THE TIME. Anxiety of wondering how people are capable of doing "all the things" all the time. Anxiety of not having time to do one of the things that brings me so much joy-PAINT! Not to mention, this is the foundation to my business and I was having anxiety for fear of loosing my skill. Whew-what a stressful year!

So, I decided to take a break from social media for almost the entire month of December. I just posted a couple times to my story, and you know what happened?

👉🏻 My business did not suffer, and in fact I gained almost 1000 new followers-go figure 🤷🏼‍♀️

👉🏻my anxiety decreased

👉🏻my to-do list got done-and did not grow

👉🏻 I was able to be present with the people around me

👉🏻I enjoyed so much more of my life instead of watching others and comparing my life to their highlight reels. I read more books, played games, learned to play pickle ball, took long walks, created and painted, journaled more, spent time with people in my day to day life, laughed and even enjoyed cleaning and decluttering my house.

👉🏻I still knew what was going on with all the people who matter to me, just by making a phone call or sending a text and communicating with them in person.

I didn't set out at the beginning of 2024 wanting to focus on social media, but I did set some lofty business goals, and I'm a pretty driven person, so that was the piece of my plan where I received instant gratification-negative or positive. It made me feel like I was doing "something' and maintaining a presence. Does that make sense? Also, to give myself some grace, I did start a new season of being a grandma for the first time, and being active on social media was one way I felt I could still be present without having to participate as much as I was able to in the past. 

I’ll still be hanging out on Instagram and Facebook in 2025, but I’m making a shift. Social media does have positives. After all, I’ve made some amazing real life friends through social media, and learned how to run a successful business online. Visual viewing the creations of others brings me joy and inspiration and connection in a sometimes solitary endeavor. While I haven’t quite figured out what my social media presence or strategy for the new year will be, I know my posts will be less and have more purpose and intention. 😘

To keep up with me on a consistent basis, and receive relevant art content direct to your inbox, subscribe to my Behind the Brush bi-newsletter HERE. I’d love to hear your thoughts on social media, how your guard your time, and/or what your social media plans for 2025 are👇🏻