Another millennial leaves social media

Summary

Haley Z, a licensed therapist and content creator, shares her personal decision to leave mainstream social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, citing reasons such as the time-consuming habit of scrolling, the pressure to perform for others, and the influx of negativity and ads. She explains her continued presence on YouTube as a creative outlet and distinguishes LinkedIn's professional use. Haley encourages mindfulness in social media use and shares her alternative methods of staying connected and creative without relying on traditional social media.

Takeaways

• 😀 Haley Z is a licensed therapist who usually creates content about indie animation and video games but also focuses on mental health.
• 📱 She decided to completely get off social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Snapchat, except for YouTube, which she uses for her channel.
• 🛑 The main reasons for quitting social media include excessive mindless scrolling, feeling the need to perform for others, and being exposed to negativity and distressing news.
• 🚫 Haley felt pressured to post about her cosplay activities to gain traction and was disappointed when her content didn't get the attention she thought it deserved.
• 🏆 She misses the early days of social media where people posted more mundane, everyday content instead of curated highlight reels or violent and sensationalist posts.
• 💼 As a therapist and accountant, Haley doesn't need social media for her professional life, and she doesn't see it as a necessary tool for her career.
• 💡 She believes that social media should be used mindfully and that it's possible to maintain connections and engage in interests without relying on it.
• 🌐 Haley has a website to showcase her creative work and uses other methods like email, texting, and direct interaction to stay in touch with people.
• 🔗 She differentiates between social media platforms, considering LinkedIn as a professional network rather than a social media site.
• 💭 The video encourages viewers to think about their social media usage and to consider the impact it has on their mental health and daily life.

Q & A

Why did Haley decide to quit social media?

Haley decided to quit social media due to several reasons including the mindless scrolling, feeling performative for others, exposure to negativity and distressing news, and the overwhelming number of ads promoting consumerism.

What social media platforms did Haley delete from her life?

Haley deleted Facebook and Instagram from her life, while she had already been without TikTok and Snapchat for about a year and a half, and hadn't used Twitter actively for nearly a decade.

How does Haley feel about the content on Instagram?

Haley feels that Instagram's content is often sensationalized, misleading, and distressing. She also dislikes the excessive focus on attention-grabbing content, including extreme violence and curated highlight reels that don't reflect everyday life.

What is Haley's profession and how does it relate to her decision to quit social media?

Haley is a licensed therapist and an accountant for private practice therapists. She doesn't need social media for her job, which influenced her decision to quit.

Why does Haley still use YouTube?

Haley continues to use YouTube because she sees it as a creative outlet rather than traditional social media. She uses it to share videos on topics she's passionate about, such as Indie animation and mental health, without the pressure of likes and clicks.

How does Haley feel about the ads on social media platforms?

Haley finds the ads on social media platforms to be excessive, annoying, and promoting unnecessary consumerism. She believes that the ads contribute to a harmful cycle of consumption and waste.

What is Haley's perspective on the changes in social media content over the years?

Haley misses the authenticity of earlier social media content, where people posted more casual and silly things, and she feels that current platforms are overly focused on curated highlights and sensationalism.

How does Haley handle the loss of social media for connecting with friends and family?

Haley believes that people who truly want to stay connected will make the effort to reach out through alternative means like email, phone calls, or texts. She's also adjusted to using other platforms like her website for personal connections.

What is Haley's stance on people who choose to continue using social media?

Haley does not judge those who choose to continue using social media. She believes everyone has the right to use it in a way that suits them, as long as it doesn't harm others or promote negative behavior.

What advice does Haley have for people who want to be more mindful on social media?

Haley suggests that people should be more mindful of their social media use by considering the impact it has on their lives and by adjusting their engagement to focus on meaningful connections and content.

Outlines

00:00

📱 Leaving Social Media Behind

Haley Z, a licensed therapist and content creator, discusses her decision to leave mainstream social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Snapchat. Despite being a millennial who grew up with technology and social media, she found herself mindlessly scrolling and feeling the pressure to perform for others online. She deleted her accounts to break free from the cycle of comparison, negativity, and the constant bombardment of ads and unverified news.

05:02

🌐 The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

In this paragraph, Haley delves into the emotional toll of social media, including feelings of inadequacy due to the highlight reels of others' lives, the distress caused by negative and sensationalized news, and the invasion of privacy through excessive ads. She also touches on the issue of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and the curated nature of social media content, which often lacks authenticity and can lead to an unhealthy obsession with others' lives.

10:02

🎭 The Role of Social Media for Creators and Professionals

Haley addresses the professional aspect of social media, explaining how it's not a necessary tool for her work as a therapist or an accountant. She contrasts this with her experience in voice acting and her YouTube channel, which she sees as a creative outlet rather than traditional social media. She acknowledges that while social media can be beneficial for networking and marketing, it's not a requirement for success in all fields.

15:04

💡 Alternatives to Social Media

Here, Haley shares how she maintains a web presence without relying on social media. She mentions her website as a platform to showcase her creative work without the pressures of likes and comments. She also discusses the importance of finding alternative ways to engage with communities and pursue hobbies, such as through direct communication with friends, local thrift stores, and other non-social media platforms.

20:07

🤝 Adjusting to Life Without Social Media

In this section, Haley talks about the adjustments she's made and the support she's received from her close network since leaving social media. She emphasizes the importance of personal connections over digital ones and suggests that meaningful relationships can be maintained through traditional communication methods. She also encourages viewers to consider the role of social media in their lives and to find a balance that works for them.

25:07

🌟 Embracing a Mindful Approach to Social Media

Haley concludes by reiterating her belief in the importance of being mindful about social media usage. She encourages viewers to think critically about their online habits and to engage with social media in a way that enhances rather than detracts from their lives. She also invites feedback and discussion, showing her commitment to fostering a community around her content, even as she steps back from other platforms.

Keywords

💡Mental Health

Mental health refers to an individual's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is the state in which a person can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their community. In the video, the host Haley Z, a licensed therapist, integrates discussions about mental health into various topics, including the impact of social media on one's mental state, highlighting its centrality to her content and her profession.

💡Social Media

Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. In the script, Haley discusses her decision to leave mainstream social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, which she feels contribute to negative mental health outcomes such as anxiety and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).

💡Millennial

Millennials are the generation born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s to early 2000s. They are often characterized by their familiarity with digital technology and the internet from a young age. Haley identifies herself as a 'semi-digital native' millennial, indicating her comfort with technology and its role in her life, yet also her decision to step back from certain aspects like social media.

💡Performative

In the context of social media, 'performative' refers to the act of presenting oneself in a certain way to gain attention, validation, or approval from others. Haley mentions feeling the pressure to be performative on social media, where she felt compelled to share only the best aspects of her life to meet others' expectations.

💡FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

FOMO is the anxiety that an individual might miss out on an opportunity for social interaction or other rewarding activities. Haley discusses experiencing FOMO when seeing social media posts about events or activities she wasn't a part of, which contributed to her decision to leave these platforms.

💡Ads and Consumerism

Ads and consumerism refer to the promotion and acquisition of goods and services, often excessively. Haley critiques the prevalence of advertisements on social media, which she sees as promoting unnecessary consumerism and detracting from the user experience by prioritizing attention-grabbing content.

💡YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing platform where users can upload, share, and view content. Unlike other social media platforms, Haley retains her YouTube channel, viewing it as a creative outlet rather than a traditional social media platform. She distinguishes it by its role in her content creation and community building.

💡Therapy

Therapy is a form of treatment intended to help individuals resolve emotional, mental, and behavioral problems. As a licensed therapist, Haley's profession is central to her identity and her content. She discusses how her work in therapy informs her perspective on the impact of social media on mental health.

💡Indie Animation

Indie animation refers to independent, often non-commercial, animation projects that are created outside of mainstream studios. Haley mentions her interest in indie animation as part of her broader content focus, indicating her niche interests and the type of media analysis she enjoys discussing.

💡Cosplay

Cosplay is the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime. Haley mentions being a cosplayer and feeling the pressure to share her cosplay creations on social media, which contributed to her feeling of being performative.

💡Disconnection

Disconnection, in the context of the video, refers to the sense of isolation or separation from reality that can occur due to excessive engagement with social media. Haley discusses the need to balance social media use with real-life connections to avoid becoming disconnected from reality.

Highlights

Haley Z, a licensed therapist, discusses her decision to leave mainstream social media platforms.

She differentiates between social media platforms like YouTube, which she continues to use, and those she has left, such as Instagram and Facebook.

Haley explains that despite being a digital native, she chose to leave social media due to the negative impacts on her mental health.

She details the issue of mindless scrolling and the time wasted on social media platforms.

Haley talks about the pressure to perform and seek validation through likes and comments on social media.

She shares her experience of feeling the need to constantly post about her cosplay activities to gain traction.

Haley discusses the negativity and drama she encountered on social media, which contributed to her decision to leave.

She expresses concern over the sensationalized and distressing news often found on social media platforms.

Haley mentions the prevalence of extreme violence in social media content and her personal discomfort with it.

She describes the feeling of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and comparison that social media use can induce.

Haley critiques the excessive consumerism and ads on social media, which she finds annoying and unnecessary.

As a therapist, Haley explains why she doesn't need social media for her professional work and how it doesn't bring clients.

She differentiates LinkedIn from other social media, considering it more of a professional networking tool.

Haley shares her use of a personal website as an alternative to social media for showcasing her creative work.

She addresses the challenge of adjusting to life without social media and finding alternative ways to engage with others.

Haley concludes by encouraging viewers to think about how they can use social media more mindfully.

Transcripts

hi guys welcome back to the channel or

welcome back welcome for the first time

if it's your first time I am Haley Z and

I am a licensed therapist I also usually

make videos that are about Indie

animation soon to be Indie video games

and things of that nature but it really

is over here I'm all about mental health

so I always find a way to weave it in so

today's topic is a little different and

this is kind of falling into to the

genre of more everyday topics and I'm

going to tell y'all a personal thing

that I did that is pretty still pretty

unusual for people my age uh as the

title implies I am your elderly

Millennial grandmother I say that

because like d the fandoms I'm in I

really do feel like I'm the oldest but

yeah I'm a millennial I am semi digital

native like I grew up definitely

for the longest time probably since I

was five or six with computers and so

you know technology was always a huge

part of my life and then of course I at

about 13 14 started to be part of the

social media generation so I grew up

with social media as something normal

too but I decided about two weeks ago to

completely get off social media to be

clear because I'm clearly making this

video on YouTube which is a form of

social media I when I say social media I

specifically mean things like Instagram

Tik Tok

Facebook uh Snapchat whatever like the

things that you typically think of in

terms of connecting with other folks and

engaging in a lot of back and forth with

them so yes I still have YouTube

obviously I I'll get into that a little

bit later but yeah YouTube I I know is

still technically considered social

media and I have it but those other guys

are completely eliminated from my life

now quickly as well I do want to say

that I haven't had Tik Tok in about a

year and a half yeah is that right yeah

like a year and a half or so I also

haven't had Snap Chat in about the same

amount of time and I wasn't really like

a power user on that by the time I got

off of it but you know for what it's

worth eliminated that and I'm trying to

think yeah Twitter Twitter I really

haven't used regularly in like the

better part of a decade I would say

maybe the last time I had a Super Active

Twitter was in like 2016 and we don't

talk about those times because they're

absolute unadulterated cringe but so I

don't have a Twitter it was really just

Facebook and Instagram that I had up

until very very recently that I

completely got rid of and y'all when I

say completely got rid of I mean like I

deleted those I didn't

deactivate I deleted that that I'm

done with it I am done done done so why

did I do this well I'm echoing what I'm

sure a lot of other people have already

said on here but the first thing was

just the scrolling the

scrolling no mat even when I wasn't even

thinking about it even when I was just

like literally wanting to do something

else without thinking I would pick up my

phone and look at Instagram and refresh

Facebook and Instagram was way bigger of

a problem I think for me because

honestly Facebook as you guys would

probably agree is not really not really

something that us Millennials jenzy and

younger are really like all about but it

was still something that I wasted time

on but yeah just tons and tons of

scrolling tons of just mindlessly

getting lost in random posts and things

like people I didn't even know and

that didn't even matter so I'm sure we

can all relate to that but yeah that was

obviously a big problem another big

problem is feeling really performative

for others so even though I am 34 like

I'm kind of coming into my own and

becoming a lot more secure about myself

as a person there was still a part of me

that felt like oh people are expecting

to know what going on in my life people

want to see what I'm doing if I'm doing

something fun I have to post it if I'm

doing something cool I have to post it

and one of the biggest problems for me

actually is that since I'm a cosplayer

and I used to do a lot more cosplay I

felt like I had to just post every

cosplay I made and even though I was

never really part of the community and

therefore didn't really get like a lot

of people who followed me for cosplay I

still felt like oh my God I need to put

this out there and I need it to have

traction and I needed to take off in

some way and I got really bummed out

because my stuff never really did I I

think that when you're from my

understanding when you're a cosplayer

dude you got to like hustle constantly

and you got to be doing the cosplays

that are like the most relevant and all

that stuff I mean someone else can jump

in if you want to say that yeah

essentially I just felt like I had to

perform and not in a way that was fun

for me but in a way where I felt like I

had to get likes and clicks and other

bull crap that doesn't really matter in

the grand scheme of Life another thing

too much negativity too much random

drama and bull crap I would be scrolling

and even though most of the people in my

like immediate circle are not exactly

like unhinged and dramatic and stuff

there would just be like maybe friends

of friends or there would be like a

creator that I don't know that I follow

and there would be something negative

and I'm all about calling out things

that need to be called out and stuff

trust me I for sure am but there was

just some there was just some stuff

where I was like yeah guys like this

just seems like it should have it should

have stayed in the drafts or it should

have stayed in the the private text in a

similar vein although its own category I

would say distressing news I do try and

I think it's very important for all of

us to stay apprised of what is happening

in the World At Large and I think that

when we can take action when we can

write to Congress when we can donate and

what have you I think it's very

important for us to stay apprised of all

that so we can take steps as needed to

ameliorate the world's problems however

when I'm on Instagram and I see a bunch

of extremely incendiary that is

questionable at best or very misquoted

statements from other people or what

have you it just it's just distressing

to me even if the underlying content is

important and I think that already the

TV does such a good job at

sensationalizing stuff even newspapers

to a degree can still sensationalize

things but Instagram is just this

perfect storm of like not only highly

sensationalizing stuff so that people

look and people click and people like

and people share and whatever but also

complete in some cases and and

I'm really I you know people in my

personal life know me like I'm really

not a conspiracy theorist I'm actually

very very critical of conspiracy and

constantly thinking like the world's

against you and all that I really really

don't like that mentality but I do feel

like with Instagram it's simple they

want you to click what you're clicking

on may be true it may not be true but I

I don't think that's conspiratorial or

controversial to say that yeah like

Instagram at the end of the day is

privileging pieces of um content that

attract attention it's all about

attention and what gets the most

attention even if it's just

brain rot or it's or it's

extremely distressing to the point where

like no one needs to see this and that's

another thing too is that like like I'm

personally someone who is very very very

upset by displays of extreme violence

and frankly you guys I really don't know

that we need to be sharing videos of

extreme violence that's going on in the

world we know there's extreme violence

going on and I'm personally not someone

who is who is wanting to see that so

yeah lots of that I prefer to get my

news in a much more measured way and in

a way that is not clearly trying to

Viper my attention above all else so

moving back into like kind of the

personal sphere compar and fomo freaking

hell dude I don't care how old I get I

would log on to Instagram and I see

photos of like old friends getting

together where was my invite and I'm not

saying that I have to be invited to

everything by any means but it was more

like yeah this was a situation in which

I think most reasonable people would

agree that maybe it would have been nice

to invite me or just a situation in

which yeah it wasn't like that it wasn't

a situation where I should have

logically been invited but it was more

like oh that person's doing something

cool that I maybe wish I could do and I

can't do right now for whatever reason

and you get a lot of that and I and

people I want to make it very clear too

like I do not need to be involved in

everything and I do not need to do

everything that I see it's not about

that I'm sure people who kind of feel me

on this can can agree that it's just

more like the accumulation of it all the

constantly seeing it you're constantly

seeing vacations you're constantly

seeing people's highlights of their life

and we all know that social media is

very often more about the highlights

like yes people such as myself have

definitely taken to social media to

share really really difficult things in

life but most people don't trend towards

that most people Trend towards showing

stuff that is just freaking fabulous and

makes them look awesome and you know

what what I want to say this too I feel

a tremendous amount of Joy seeing my

friends family and people in general

experiencing Joy but I'm a human too I'm

a human too and so sometimes when I see

certain things especially if I'm not

having a good day or a good week I am

sometimes overwhelmed because I feel

like I'm just in this Echo chamber of

just positivity positivity positivity or

then over here it's like extremely

freaking negative negative and I just

don't think that there is quite enough

like just

normaly on the internet anymore because

again it's all about

attention whereas I think like you guys

if you look back to like I don't know

Instagram I think got started in like

2010 2011 I want to say don't quote me

on that but it was roughly around that

time people used to post just

the silliest things on Instagram like I

would seriously like like 12 years ago

15 years ago whatever I could take a

photo of like this cup and put it on

Instagram and that would be completely

normal it wouldn't be like why are you

bowsing that it'd be like it'd be like

enjoying a morning coffee and that was

what that was what mofos put on

Instagram back then and quite honestly

looking back at that I kind of missed

that I miss people just

posting really silly stuff instead of

like perfectly curated feed over here

someone getting beheaded over there

like I don't know bring me the boring

please like love that which brings

me to the next piece of it that is so

important to talk about which is too

many

ads everything is an ad and honestly

that was a huge like this is a change

from the last few years that has really

driven me off these platforms it's just

just ad after ad after ad and you can't

really avoid them it's really really

hard to avoid them you have to really go

out of your way at least last I checked

on Instagram you can have that like

following tab where you just are able to

look at people that you follow but very

often I feel like you're not just primed

to go do that and so what are what do

you do you log in you see a bunch of

that you don't even follow you see

a bunch of products and granted some of

those products it's like damn you know

me but at the same time like I we don't

need to be inundated with consumerism we

don't need to be inundated with

that we're going to accumulate only to

give away or throw away in a matter of

weeks or months or stuff that at at

worst is just harmful or breaks in two

seconds which is what a lot of that teu

bull crap on there is we don't need this

stuff we really really don't and so yeah

the ads and stuff are really out of

control really annoying some of them are

not good products a lot of them are not

necessary products and I'm not trying to

demonize before anyone comes in and is

like well I bought my favorite like

like vibrator on Instagram or something

sorry I had to like my brain is just

clearly like not in a not in a

kid-friendly zone right now but yeah you

know if you bought a great product on

Instagram or Tik Tok shop or whatever

great super great that's awesome for you

love that for you I'm not talking about

the exceptions I'm talking about what

most of us experience when we log into

one of these platforms so I I think I've

listed some really good reasons so far

is to watch why I quit social media the

wasting of the time the being exposed to

a lot of bull crap or harmful material

the feeling jealous or insecure

naturally but when I'm inundated with

too much of people's highlight reels the

ads the consumerism Etc I feel like I've

touched on all of that and this isn't so

much a reason why I deleted it but this

is more of an aside to let you know

where some of my logic was coming from

as I mentioned at the top of the video

I'm a therapist that is my primary job I

also have a secondary job as an

accountant where I work with private

practice therapists to basically like

translate information financial

information for them and um I'm also

getting into voice acting and the the

latter one you can argue a little

differently we'll see but at least for

my first two jobs I've mentioned I don't

need social media at all for my job

people can also say oh yeah well a lot

of therapists of social media why aren't

you on it I have literally never never

known anybody this is on God never known

anybody in my Professional Circle who

has gotten a client from Instagram or

Tik Tok and someone can strike me down

if they actually have and they told me

and they want to take advantage of my

shitty memory and say yes I did tell you

that Haley fine fine come in the

comments tell me but as far as I'm aware

no that is not something that is that I

witness happening a lot and it's

certainly not something that ever

happened to me when I had Instagram or

Tik Tok like and and you guys like a few

years ago I was going ham on Instagram

when I was in the anti-mlm space because

that's something I'm really passionate

about and I was putting my name out

there as like yeah I want to help people

recover from mlms I consider them a

subset of cult and I think they're

terrible and I want to help

people I connected with so many folks

and honestly made some great connections

that I still have to this day not a

single one of them was a client so that

was kind of something that helped me

make my decision that you know what I

really don't need this for my job I

really don't need this for any of the

work I'm going to do including in my

opinion voice acting but obviously I I

want to say this because I know that not

everybody is that way not everybody can

get off social media some people

including some of my friends who are in

other careers they have to have Facebook

or Instagram for marke purposes or

they're in some type of media job and

it's important for them so pour one out

for for those

people um another thing I wanted to

point out again I mentioned obviously

that clearly I have YouTube still and uh

I actually take YouTube pretty seriously

and when I say seriously though guys I

mean like in the sense that I am working

hard to learn I'm working hard to create

and I'm working hard to hopefully in the

near future

connect this is not not something I'm

doing for money this is not something

that I'm on here to try to earn my

income from I already

have two going on three forms of income

that I'm engaging in so it's not really

that it's this is definitely more of a

creative passion for me this is

something that I want to look back and

be proud of and this is a way that again

hopefully I can eventually connect with

other people on interests that we share

because don't have a lot of people in my

real I guess IRL life who are interested

in things like Indie animation or Indie

gaming or things like that so I keep

YouTube because to me the pros vastly

outway the cons and I think that YouTube

is also one of those things where like I

don't have it on my phone anymore

because I was scrolling a little bit but

I don't have it on my phone I am very

intentional with the time I spend on

YouTube and the type of content and I'm

and I'm getting better about the content

piece of it but I'm I'm becoming very

very intentional about what I intake and

I yeah it's just easier for me it's hard

to explain it's just easier for me

having it not on the phone is really

really important because I think that

the shorts literally attack you when you

have YouTube on your phone and you're

just like stop like even if some of this

is funny like it's just it some of the

shorts are so ass bro like they're just

like it's just so such unne necessary

brain rot and I so yeah so that's kind

of how I treat YouTube is like something

that is really a creative Pursuit for me

it's not really a social media other

than again connecting with people who

have my interest but it's not something

I use to keep in touch with family or

friends or friends of friends or distant

things or old co-workers and all that

it's just kind of like it's my space

it's my creative wonderful space another

thing I didn't mention that I figured

would be important to say too is

LinkedIn because LinkedIn sometimes gets

brought up in the social media

conversation and I don't really consider

it a social media in the same vein at

all as any of those other guys that I

mentioned because social not social

media LinkedIn really is about having a

professional profile and again I don't I

can't think of a single

person who uses LinkedIn to like

earnestly keep in touch with people on a

personal level it's about getting jobs

it's about befriending people in the

same industry sometimes it's about maybe

sometimes reading the Articles a little

bit but it for the most part it's just

it's just about the professional aspect

of life and so I do have a LinkedIn um

under my real name which I'm not giving

away yet sorry

people personal you know artistic and

professional lives y'all I got to keep

that sep separate like I just I

really I'm not trying to be judged out

here on my therapy work for what I do in

my personal and artistic life and vice

versa I'm really just trying to keep it

separate but anyways I've had it since

like 2010 2011 like it's the longest

social media I've had and I just keep it

because I'm like look I I don't know

I've connected with so many people over

the years and if people need to reach

out to me for like a reference or

something or just want to ask me a

question about therapy that's great

great and vice versa if I need some

support in that regard sick dude I can

message them but yeah so I just for good

full disclosure I wanted to let y'all

know I do have a LinkedIn obviously it's

not public but I do have it so I'll own

up to that but again I see this is a

very different category of online social

media others may be watching this video

and asking if I don't have social media

if I'm not really using YouTube to

connect to my friends and family

and same thing with LinkedIn I'm only

really using that for like occasional

work rated stuff and to have an online

resume so to speak what do I do instead

well I do have a

website and it is linked in my YouTube

profile so you can go check it out if

you want it's pretty Bare Bones it just

has some of my paintings some of my

cosplays it has a page for voice acting

that is completely empty because I do

not have anything other than what's on

my YouTube channel to really like put

out their's voice acting but one day one

day for sure y'all so that has been a

way for me to show what I can create

without relying or being tempted by

clicks likes comments views whatever the

hell because even though obviously there

are

some some metrics some algorithmic

metrics on Squarespace it's really you

know I haven't really enabled anything

else like I haven't enabled likes for

example you know it's like I didn't

create my own little social media site

it's more just like here it is here it

is take a look at it if you want don't

if you don't want to you can email me if

you want but it's just kind of there but

it's a way for me to still catalog all

the creative things that I do and so

that I can look back at things and be

proud or if someone does ask hey what do

you create what do you do I have

something to show them because of course

people in my IRL life will ask that and

I want to give them something to look at

and so boom there's my website it's

right there it's it's cool it's chill it

doesn't come with all the extra baggage

that like an Instagram account or a Tik

Tok account would and I love it so

that's what I do instead so another

thing that people have asked me in real

life and possibly you if you're watching

this is okay Haley but like you think

you're slick because you're two weeks in

dude but like you're not going to last I

know you're going to going to go back to

LinkedIn

or but you're not going to last I know

you're going to go back to Instagram or

one of those things because it's so hard

you know you need it you need it to keep

in touch with people and like honestly

you know it's you make a good point

there but I think what I've come to the

conclusion of is a couple things first

of all the people that are really meant

to be in my

life are going to make the effort

they're going to adjust to the change

they're going to realize that hey in

order to inform Haley of stuff I've got

going on in my life guess what I have to

email her or I have to call her or I

have to text her or I have to Whatsapp

her you know what like if that's too

hard for

people

bye bye like I'm I just don't I realized

in life that I just don't have the room

for people who are not willing to make

those small adjustments because I am so

someone who does a lot for people I have

had people who are not on social media

who I've had to adjust in Prior times to

texting or calling instead it didn't

kill me and it's not going to kill other

people if they really care about me or

their other loved ones who don't have

social media anymore and the second

thing is that if there are apps or

groups or activities or whatever that

incentivize people to have social media

in order to be a part of

them well well it's not really the thing

for me and there are things that I like

to do that are more challenging without

having social media for example when I

was writing up a little outline to this

the example that I thought of was this

group called buy nothing buy nothing is

a group where you join it on Facebook

for your respective region and you can

give stuff away or ask for stuff or pick

stuff up and there's no money exchange

everything is just given away for free

or you're you're picking something up

and getting it for free or sometimes

they have little like raffle not Raffles

but like you know you put your name in

and then they choose at random and then

the person gives it to you and I've

gotten some great stuff that way I've

also given away like untold amounts of

possessions on there in the past when I

had Facebook and you know what one of

the reasons that I held on to Facebook

so long was because of that group

because I really don't like accumulating

extra crap that I don't need and then

thinking about throwing it

away and I always love knowing that

something that I don't need anymore is

going to a good home and so at first I

was like oh man what am I going to

do without buy nothing and then I

realized that I have to leverage other

things but I can still create a similar

experience for example I have a bunch of

neighbors and they're all really cool

and I'm in touch with some of them and

so sometimes when I have to give away

something I will just text them simple

enough and if they don't need it they

may know someone else who needs it I

also have found a couple of really

amazing thrift stores in the area who

are not necessarily big box places like

Goodwill where I can donate and I know

that I'm helping out a company or a

nonprofit that could really use those

materials so I just keep you know I have

to adjust certain things in my life with

that but I'm still able to do the thing

that I want to do and another example I

suppose could be this whole voice acting

Venture that I have you know I'm not on

Twitter I'm not on Instagram I can't

just tweet people and get into like

conversations that way but you know what

I can do is I can maybe like talk to

people on YouTube If I ever am so

inclined again I may download Discord

like there are so many other things to

do I can go to cons and I understand

that some of the stuff that we may have

to adjust is like maybe like for example

going to a con costs more money than

being on social media I get that but I

think if something's really important to

you you make it work even if you don't

have some of the tools and if you and if

social media is a needed tool to do the

thing like truly needed at least for me

then that just means that it's not

something that I truly care about then

if that's really what it's about right

so those are my two realizations I want

to make it really clear before I go that

I really don't judge you if you've

watched this video and you're like okay

too long didn't watch going to keep

social media or even if you watch the

whole thing and you're like yeah like

I'm not convinced I'm going to keep my

social media I think that's fine I think

that everyone has the right to use

social media in the way that they want

as long as they're not harming other

people or being like a complete Menace

to Society so you do you for sure like I

don't want to judge anybody about that

stuff but what I will say is that I hope

that what I've talked about today gives

y'all something to think about or at

least makes you I don't know think about

how to mindfully use social media

because again for example I'm not

getting off of YouTube anytime soon I

have no reason to I'm loving my time on

here I feel like there are so many

wonderful shows and like communities

that have come out of YouTube and I

intend to stay here for as long as it

feels comfy and fun for me I I have to

admit there are some days that I spend a

lot of time on like hasb been Hotel side

of YouTube or something or the FNAF side

of YouTube and I'm like commenting and

engaging but I I hope that we all can

think about how to be more mindfully

involved in whatever social media

communities we're involved in because

there's a whole big world out there and

social media is just not the whole world

it's just not it's not everything it's a

tool that we can use to see more of the

world but if we get too involved in it

then we end up disconnecting from

reality and disconnecting from things

that can be really meaningful so what

it's worth that's what I think again

thank you for joining me for yet another

yapping sesh if you're brand brand brand

brand new here please know that this is

not really the bulk of my content at the

moment I do usually tend to Loop in

other media as I talk about mental

health topics but I don't know man we're

waiting on a new hell of a Boss episode

we're waiting on a new amazing digital

circus episode and I honestly I'm

thinking also legitimately of making a

video about FNAF and like how I got into

the fandom as like a legitimate

33-year-old like old as hell like the

again the grandma of the whole the whole

community so I have a lot of media

related mental health analyses and the

works but if this was helpful please let

me know I would love to talk in the

comments I'm a really big yapper in the

comments too so please feel free to show

up engage stay as long as you like uh

make requests for videos I always love

that I usually am pretty good about

heaing those and making something that

can appeal to other people so yep that's

me all right y'all so please have a

wonderful day eat some good food I'm so

hungry I need to go eat so I'm

going to go do that and I hope you all

have a good day bye

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