One year after I quit social media 🌿 Q&A pt.2 | Friends & Family, Focus, Learning & Art Communities

My update one year after I quit social media. I'm an illustrator, and I deleted my social media presence in 2019. Here's part two of the Q&A with your most asked questions.
Q&A topics:
00:17 How do you participate in group events without social media?
1:53 I begin offering creativity classes and workshops - do I need social media to build a community?
3:42 Will you continue without social media? Focus, goals, outlook on life
7:21 What was added to your life? Inner experience, discoveries
11:18 Did you lose personal connections with friends and family? Do you miss anything from social media?
13:56 What would I do with my time without social media?
Learn more about why I quit social media in my first video about the topic:
• Why I quit social medi...
My original blog post:
juliabausenhar...
Resources for further reading:
If you’re thinking about changing your social media habits, read these books and articles to form your own opinion:
Books:
Cal Newport - Digital Minimalism
Cal Newport - Deep Work
Jaron Lanier - Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Sherry Turkle - Alone Together
Nicholas Carr - The Shallows
Documentary:
The Great Hack: www.thegreatha...
Articles:
Paul Jarvis - On the Facebook Like button, and why it’s awful: pjrvs.com/like/
Social media is a threat to democracy: Carole Cadwalladr speaks at TED2019: www.ted.com/ta...
Join my newsletter and receive access to great sketching and painting tips as a gift:
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My Painting & Sketching Blog: juliabausenhar...
Support my work and purchase a class with pay-what-you-want-pricing:
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[@littlestbroccoli]

Unethical and a huge privacy disaster. Absolutely. They are getting away with murder right now, and no one cares, to boot. Thank you. I truly enjoyed the blogosphere, too. Let's create community in spaces that value and respect us.

[@HarpistAngelina]

Just watched this and your other Q & A. Great advice. As a musician it's giving me the push to focus on my own website and building up my blog and youtube too.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Absolutely, do it! You can't go wrong with your own website. :-)

[@harveyamari1815]

instablaster...

[@yourguitarpal]

Thanks! The comment about looking back at the wasted time scrolling while not being creative really hit home!

[@anitacobb9698]

I am so glad you shared this with us. I have been conflicted as to the value of FB and although I am entertained by Instagram- can I teach myself as much as they teach me if I just get my pencils, pens and brushes out? I think so.... I still have things I have to learn, but I will be following your example. You are so right. Life is short and we will not regret missing that fleeting trend as much as we will miss out on our own life. Thank you for what you share.

[@NatureSketchbook]

There is value in entertainment and unwinding, but we probably need to do less of that on platforms which often use negative feelings to generate a lot of engagement (there's the awful word again). Yeah, I mean, you nailed it, you just need to get out your tools and practice - this is probably more valuable than watching yet another tutorial or a random "inspiring post".

[@wystaladrupa6594]

Thank you. I needed to ear that it is possible to live without using all those social media. I dont have any addictions about these. Instead I felt anxiety every time I though I should post more on social media to promote myself. But I'm really not talkative. I dont like to post something just to post. It feels weird. And manager and marketer tells you should post and brand yourself, and tell a story about yourself. I'm not good with words. For context, I'm actually trying living from my art. I'm at the very beginning on this process and there is sooo many ways to do it. I'm very happy to know I wont have to struggle with facebook and cie. I will still use my old deviantart account, but I will not count on it too much to promote myself from now. Thank you again. I'll share your words.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Well, you need to develop a certain practice to be able to talk about your work comfortably at some point - but not right away. Promotion and self-marketing is necessary to a degree, but it's not the first step, and you certainly don't need social media for it. First you have to really focus on your art and on getting really good at it. Then you're already half the way there. And the rest can be developed without relying on social media. All the best with your art! :-)

[@daimaosensei_edits]

Thank you so much! Your video is very informative and insightful. I feel my path forward is much more clear! I will definitely try off social media and more offline activities.🌹

[@NatureSketchbook]

Yay, all the best with that!

[@alicegomes7336]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. They are very important to me, because they realy confirm the perceptions that I began having a year ago. Quiting all these social media engines is the same than getting ourselves free, in the mind and even in the body.

[@ericofadel]

I just found you and I can't state here how much I identify with your experience as a creative professional, experiencing anxiety from doomscrolling for hours and feeling frustrated because I couldn't produce anything. I guess I'll quit social media too. Thanks for your video.

[@NatureSketchbook]

Thank you and all the best!

[@MandyvanGoeije]

Hello Julia, these are two great videos about an artist's life without facebook and instagram. I am very happy to have found them for they are a great help in making my choice. I am sorry I am late to send in a question, because after having seen both videos twice I wonder if deleting your accounts on insta and facebook hasn't made you feel lonely or alone. I'm an artist myself and I find that working home alone I often seek "company" on facebook because I lack daily chats with colleagues. Did you encounter any problems with this? I'm on the verge of leaving both platforms but am a little bit afraid because of this and I wonder how other people deal with this.

[@SnehaSrik]

I found this super interesting. I actually only got my social media accounts when I turned 18 years old and this allowed me to enjoy life completely offline in my developing years (which in turn taught me how to use social media intelligently - whilst I may get trapped in my feed once in a while I'm very aware of myself when I do it). I think everything is fine in moderation :). Just wondering do you consider youtube in the same way? as I know many people find youtube just as draining as other social media platforms, what makes youtube different?

[@NatureSketchbook]

That's awesome to hear! I remember growing up without social media and it was the best thing ever. I think KZbin is a great platform for learning new skills. So if you use it like a video library where you focus on the thing you want to learn, and then close it, instead of binging through videos like it's Netflix, then it's a very powerful tool and I'm in favor of it. I try to ignore the comments (not here obviously ;-) ) and the like system, and I make sure I don't spend too much time just watching videos passively. There are plugins and sites that make this easier, browser plugins that remove the feed and recommendations, and sites like invidious that remove the ads and bells and whistles from YT.

[@melanieponchot]

THANK YOU so much for posting this Julia! I needed to hear /receive this today. Feels like a personal invitation to much better living. many many heartfelt thanks for explaining your journey.

[@TheBonyLevi]

The clerical work you describe regarding the amount of time and effort social media takes makes me think of Vermeer (who was the first painter I was mesmerized by back in my youth). Imo Vermeer was so important in the painting world but his collection is small. I have to make the comparison between an artist spending too much time contributing to their social media and the amount of time Vermeer spent working for artists' rights. His time was taken up with meetings and letter writing. As well as the 10 children he had. It is a huge loss for the art world that he doesn't have a more robust body of work. Granted, he changed public perception and paved the way for artists to make a living, which dwarfs the reasons for social media but my point is how his work really suffered due to endless administration. Take it as a warning that your work is the most important thing. Not filling out forms or, in this case, making a new post.

[@bbbleich8585]

I found your channel (I’m now subscribed) while researching how to use social media to find more people interested in buying my paintings. As one who doesn’t really care for social media, you’ve given me great ideas and hope in how to go forward. Thanks so much for your channel. I’ve been reading the same scientific articles about how social media affects us. I believe it’s true because I’ve become aware how it has changed my ability to concentrate and increased ‘comparing anxiety.’ Not good for anyone and a real problem for creatives.

[@tacmason]

Thank you so much for your excellent assessment ! Many Blessings, and much success to you !@

[@touch182]

I've noticed that people, in general, don't act the same in person, as they do on social media. They actually pretend that they don't spend much time on social media. So, if you yourself are never on social media, people in general, are actually trying more to fit into YOUR lifestyle when in public. You become the example of what is a normal person . Yet more and more the narrative of the "Social outcast" is being paired with "One who rejects social media". Even in these series of videos, Julia is almost apologetic in her justifications of wanting to rescue her mental health by logging off of a business built to purposefully damage your mental health, manipulate you, then sell your information to corporations. Just sayin.

[@mtnhigh]

Real Talk!

[@girlfriday1299]

I LOVE nature journal art! I had no particular questions, but it was fascinating to hear other people's questions and your helpful and insightful answers. I have only used Facebook so far for my art sales, but very much want to build a website and also use Etsy. (I have an eBay account where I sell books.) I sold more art work than I ever had before last year, all on Facebook, but right now I'm in a lull due to recent repairs on my house, difficulty finding time and bills to pay.

[@cmralph...]

I really appreciate that you're sharing these videos. I could not agree with you more. Facebook, for one, is an online swamp that encourages and rewards narcissistic behavior. Cal Newport also has a lot to say about this in his book "Deep Work", which I also found to be very helpful. I have this on my artist bio - "I prefer not to make "friends" on social media. If you want to be my actual friend you can call me on the phone, send me an email, or write me a letter." Thanks! 🙃

[@gailbrule1744]

So happy to see you kept it up! You are giving others confidence to pull the plug themselves, which is great. Love your work too, BTW. New subscriber. Cheers!

[@ugtitto2654]

For social media algorithm to be less exhausting they must have no like or dislike and only leave the commenting option, save to favourites and share. It would remove so much anxiety and stress from the creatives, teens, businesses, etc.

[@artKarolina]

Wow this is the exact same learning curve I went through and I did this at the same time (though I found it easier to just ignore social media because I quite literally need to force myself to use it). I'm going to write a blog post about this topic and I'll be linking to this video series :))

[@NatureSketchbook]

Ignoring those services is definitely the best strategy. Hey, and feel free to send me an email when you've published your blog post, I'd love to read it!

[@irreverentbeverage]

Well said. Thank you for the inspiration to reclaim our creative lives :)

[@SimplicityForGood]

what about the social media KZbin here then!? It is even more easy to get dragged into discussions here than anyone, especially as it is anonymous, all kinds of people can comment on you and you back to them and so on, and the algorithms give you automatically new videos to watch as soon as one finishes... is an endless stream and statistics of people's phones show that they use KZbin more than any other social media app!! so that is this issue! What to do about it, you as me and as so many want to be here and express our creative ideas but we also do not want to be dragged back into social media time consuming scrolling and endless debates or discussions of things... How to use youtube without getting hooked to the social media aspect of it!? 🙄🤔 this youtube stuff, this is the real social media to be honest! 😬🤫

[@bettyd.1843]

I would love to pull back on social media but need suggestions for blogs to follow to develop nature journaling and urban sketching and water coloring. I’d love to hear of your favorite accounts.

[@jm-ux2yn]

some great stuff but youtube is literally a massive social media platform. literally you vlog and converse with others on here. you didn't close this account. i understand completely that this irony is unavoidable and there are no real options/full freedom of choice for independent creators, but it's frustrating to read misleading titles

[@NatureSketchbook]

Definitely, KZbin can be considered social media if you use it like that, I also mentioned this in my other videos. I tried to utilize it like a learning tool and removed a lot of the social media aspects, blocked the scrolling feature, and answered comments in the same way I would on my blog. But yes, you could say the title is slightly misleading if you are strict.

[@jm-ux2yn]

@@NatureSketchbook that makes sense. i wish there was some way out hehe

[@NatureSketchbook]

@@jm-ux2yn I know, it can be really hard!

[@EE-hi4re]

KZbin isn't really social media. And if it becomes like social media, I'M OUT

[@ArtandKitchen_]

however for an artist who is self employed and has no website, social media is the free way to advertise

[@renigalea767]

Bravo! What a time waster Facebook is! I went without for a month once and didn‘t miss it at all! But then.......hmmm...... I have so much else in my life that I want to do - never bored. I love to read and my husband and I only put the television on to watch one particular news program, then turn it off, put some relaxing music on Spotify and sit and read in the evenings. Your video has inspired me to pull the plug again. I am a member of a painting group with weekly challenges and I do them each week, but, I can‘t say I‘m really learning anything, but at the same time I go in to check if anyone has seen my work and what they think of it. A total waste of time! I could be spending more time in the garden or trying another medium, or whatever. I have a few good friends that I stay in touch with via phone or catch up over coffee. And that‘s all we need. Thank you again and I wish you well. Regards, Reni from Adelaide Australia

[@NatureSketchbook]

Reni, that sounds like you have a full life that you don't need Facebook for. Pull the plug and enjoy it. All the best!

[@SerenaLewis]

Great advice!

[@NatureSketchbook]

You're welcome!