How will quitting social media affect my professional and personal networks?

I’ve left three major social media platforms, which were my main methods of interacting with others online, other than via email and this blog.

Why? Lots of reasons, most of which you can probably guess.

The real catalyst for making this decision, though, was reading Jaron Lanier’s book: Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Accounts Right Now.

I realised I was staying on social media mainly because it was hard to quit, which in itself isn’t a good reason to stay. So I’ve taken the plunge.

This is very much a personal decision, and just because it feels right for me doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to be right for others. Nor do I intend to implicitly criticise the important work charities do on social media to reach donors and beneficiaries. Social media is a reality of the world we live and work in, and it makes sense to harness this reality to do as much good as possible.

I am by no means withdrawing from the world, and I absolutely want to continue to be part of the professional fundraising community. I think the Internet is a fantastic tool and will continue to maintain an active presence on this blog. I’m interested and excited to see how this decisions affects my relationships and creativity and may write more about this experience in future.