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More and more, I’m totally uninspired by the idea of sharing things on Instagram. It no longer feels like a place where I can share my work the way I want to. I suppose the app has changed and I have as well, and increasingly the anxiety and overwhelm I feel when I spend time on Instagram is something I would rather avoid altogether than try to overcome. I know how I want to use Instagram- as a place to connect with people, to discover other knitters and dyers and artists, to share my work with other people- and these are good motivations but the more I use Instagram the worse I feel about it and about myself.
I’ve been reading with interest other peoples’ accounts of leaving the platform. I identify with some of Marlee Grace’s reasons for quitting and not others (of course, different people have different relationships with the app) but this really hit home:
“Artists make technology and digital spaces special places to be, and then those places turn against us. Or they weren’t designed for us in the first place. They are designed to keep us there for as long as possible. That is the whole point. To be an artist, a writer, an herbalist, a creative and thoughtful person - we are risking so much at the hands of the apps that keep us sucked in.”
Instagram doesn’t care about me, doesn’t care about the success of my business or even my general wellbeing. Posting and sharing is always a lot of effort for me, even when I enjoy it and want to do it, but why give that effort to Instagram? I can see how it diverts my attention away from things I want to focus on deeply. Anastasia Selby reminds us:
Social media companies steal our data. They steal our lives and our attention. They steal our mental health. Study after study has proven a direct correlation between social media use and depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
And something else I had never even considered:
All of this is compounded by the often overlooked environmental impact of social media scrolling. Every two hours of Instagram scrolling is equivalent to driving one mile. According to the BBC, our devices, media streaming, and scrolling habits emit nearly as much greenhouse gases as the global airline industry each year.
As I increasingly try to move away from mindless consumption and make more thoughtful choices in my business, with knitting, and all areas of my life, it makes sense to examine Instagram the same way. Scrolling doesn’t fit with how I want to use my time and attention, and so it makes perfect sense to me to learn that it also doesn’t fit with my environmentalist values.
I’m probably not ready to leave, at least not yet. Instagram is how I found the knitting community and Chile and is still the main way to stay connected here, and I don’t really see an alternative to it at this time (don’t say TikTok). But I have been trying to scale back the time I spend there, batch scheduling posts once a month and opening the app once a day or so to see what other people are making, leave a few supportive comments, respond to messages, and then leave. Does this hurt my business? Honestly it’s hard to tell, I’ve never built a big following there anyway, maybe I just feel bad about it because I’m not good at it!
But one thing I’ve promised myself since I first made up a brand name is that I will not let the realities of running a business get in the way of my love of knitting and natural dyeing. If that priority comes at the expense of growth (it usually does) then I can live with that. Neblina Wool is not my main income and while making money from it is helpful I would rather live without it than turn my passion into something I resent.
Still, for better or for worse, connecting online is just a part of the way we live now, especially as someone living outside my home country, and I’m trying to find a balance that works for me. Online community does have its benefits, and I think it is worth seeking out in the right context.
One place I have a lot of optimism about is the Making app. I listened to their recent update podcast and really appreciated how they clearly articulate what makes them different from other social networks or marketplaces and how they are actually living by those values, at the expense of rapid growth. I’m impressed by their willingness to be transparent, and especially by their decision to turn down VC money and the demands that come with it, in order to stay true to their core values. I’ve been on the platform since it launched and so have seen some of the ups and downs and changes in direction this involves, and it’s honestly very encouraging to see their commitment to creating the community they envision without exploiting users or selling out their values.
When it comes to slow business, slow growth, and staying true to doing what I love in this endeavor, it is in-person events that sustain me. At yarn shows, I am continually amazed by the levels of talent and creativity in the Chilean knitting and indie dyeing community. The work of my colleagues in this industry inspires me to keep trying, to think of color in new ways, to consider what I want to put out into the world and share with this community. While I will always love natural dyeing and will always find a way to do it, it’s these events that convince me it’s worth it to keep trying as a yarn dyer and small business specifically. The sellers truly support each other’s work and believe that we are stronger when we come together in community rather than competition. The upcoming Expo Teje Primavera on November 4 and 5 will be my third time participating in this event, and it’s been exciting to watch it grow and see that when we support each other, it creates more opportunities for all of us.
Working slowly and growing slowly fits with my values as a small business and as a person. I would rather stay small in a way that is sustainable to me than burn out or abandon my values. While I sometimes wish I had a bigger following, I feel better remembering that most of the people who do follow my work are genuinely interested in it, and choosing to see it. As much as I stress about social media, I do love connecting with customers, knitters, and natural dyers online and in person and I feel incredibly lucky to have opportunities to do it.
In case I didn’t make it clear above, I’m really looking forward to Expo Teje! I’d love to see you there. Here’s the link to get tickets!
Here are some things I’ll have with me at the show:
Thank you for reading! I want this newsletter to be a place to connect in a slower, more intentional way, and I would love to hear from you! You can always reply to this email or leave a comment below.
Thanks for your honesty! You are giving permission to the rest of us also to find alternatives to these life-draining social media vacuums. I left Meta/FB/Insta in March (finally) because I literally would feel dread and sick to engage with them, and now I am so much happier. I didn't discover your substack until then, and am greatly inspired by you and others who choose to chart a more organic path. I now pretty much only read substacks and email newsletters for connection and that's plenty.