Why I Quit Social Media

For the past decade I’ve been building my online business under the assumption that I needed to be on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in order to succeed.

I’m now testing that assumption.

Earlier this week I deleted each of those three accounts, without notice, and I’d like to explain why.

First, a bit of context.

I run an education business where I teach a skill called sketchnoting, which helps you tap into the visual processing power of your brain when taking notes and sharing ideas with others.

Sketchnoting merges hand-sketched images and diagrams with brief phrases to succinctly capture an idea.

The primary places where I share ideas about sketchnoting are on my website, Verbal to Visual, and on my YouTube channel with the same name.

Video has been my go-to media format since the early days of Verbal to Visual, starting with index cards and an iPhone propped in between a stack of books, and then growing in complexity and quality over time.

My first recording studio.

Because of my emphasis on video, most of what I posted to social media were screen captures of the latest upload, with a short caption sharing the gist of the video that I hoped followers would then go watch.