I can walk for three hours per day because I choose to not spend three hours a day scrolling through social media. Thirty minutes here, an hour there, it all adds up.

Maybe Social Media Escape Club has missed some growth opportunities because I’m not in the “public forum” of social media, engaged in conversations and discourse through the day (and evening, and night), but I dare to believe that time spent on other activities have led to my own growth.

I host three Zoom calls per week, talking with people about leaving social media, building websites, and writing newsletters. That’s 3+ hours per week. And then 21 hours a week walking. A full day every week that I’m not giving to any social media platform.

Again, maybe I’d have 10,000 more email subscribers if I spent time on X or Threads engaging, but I like the people I get to talk to every week. And I like the calm and peace I find from walking so much.

Maybe everything doesn’t need to be about follower growth, or increasing reach.

A musician practicing three hours per day would probably compound so much in a years time. A writer or a poet could fill dozens of notebooks in a month’s time. How many sketch books could an artist fill if they spent three hours per day sketching?

Love this from musician Phoebe Dubar, who makes music as IKSRE, talking about getting away from social media as best they can:

Hiking, gardening, yoga – all these things are the ultimate antidote to any digital interference. Backyard campfires, playing card games with my husband and daughter, and spending time in our caravan. And physical media music. My CD, cassette and vinyl collection is such a treasured possession.

Again, it’s the act of escaping social media, it’s where do we go? How we we fill the time that we once spent staring at a screen?

“I’ve had to be on a bit more recently with the new album coming out and I can feel it zapping me. It’s wild. But taking my dog for a walk along the beach near where I live, solves that instantly. It’s all a balance, right?

I also stress this with Social Media Escape Club; it’s not all or nothing. Do what feels right, trust your gut. If you’re spending six hours a day on Instagram, and making Reels leaves you exhausted, examine that. Get outside, go for a walk, play some records.

We didn’t just wake up one day and look at our phones for several hours. That took time, and heading in the other direction will take some time, too.

Read the full interview with Phoebe over at Zen Sounds.

Finding your people is about signals, it’s about risk, it’s about trying something without knowing how the finish product shows up.

Posting on social media will get you near instant feedback, like eating a cookie. In the moment it’s great, but not a great long term strategy.

So Jen Mayer | Makeist of Zinestack and I collaborated on this EXIT ≠ DELETE zine. The photos here the deluxe version, and you can grab a digital copy to print at home from Jen’s Five on Friday post here.

We met awhile ago on Substack, via Notes probably and some Escape Pod Zoom calls, and we started working together on this zine project in June of 2025.

So really, finding your people, and then sometimes doing things with your people, can take a minute. And “finding your people” never ends. Today’s people might not be next year’s people, because you’re always growing and changing, just like everyone else!

WHAT’S THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SOCIAL MEDIA ESCAPE CLUB?

“Deleting the app is the start,” as I mention in our EXIT ≠ DELETE zine. We’re leaving, but we’re entering into something else, which is why I stress the whole “find your people” thing. If you’re trying to get away from social media, it makes sense to hang around other people who think the same thing. The journey isn’t fast or clear, but it just makes sense to go along with others.

So while this week our Escape Pod Zoom call wasn’t “how to get 1000 new subscribers” or “get my Instagram followers to go paid on Substack,” well… we’re just a bunch of artsy, creative weirdos who like the adventure of breaking up with big tech, spending less time on socials, and oh yeah – doing stuff.

I don’t promise results. There’s no map. And I don’t have all the answers. But we get where we wanna go together, so if that sounds fun, come along for the ride.

Finding your people can happen anywhere. On Monday’s very spontaneous Substack Live, people were chatting with each another, learning what they do, and subscribing to each other.

Somehow in the chaos of a live chat room, people connected. Some people found their people.

So please don’t leave that to the machines, desperately pleading “oh algorithm, please deliver me my audience!”

You’ve got taste and style. You can find people in the chat, in the comments, in line at the coffee shop. See what your favorite authors like on Substack Notes. Who are the 11 people Austin Kleon subscribes to? Have you looked up some of the artists that people mention on your favorite podcasts?

Here’s some of the things I attempted to answer during the Live:

• Should I make my Substack free and build community somewhere else?
• Was there a time you felt you were writing into a void?
• How often do you do lives, and why do them?
• How do you feel about Substack Notes?
• How do I find my people without sounding like a coach, and what do I talk about besides “come to this”?
• What’s Metal Bandcamp Gift Club?
• Should I be on YouTube?

Doing things in person, guesting on a podcast, going live – these are things with other people, and it’s sort of the foundation of everything, and it can be terrifying.

Underneath that is tension. As Seth Godin says, “this might not work.”

Why bother going to an open mic night when you can just post something on social media and get 39 likes?

Why gather with other creative people when a vertical video might get 10,000 views?

I think about it like this – imagine if you were in a group chat with Hayley Williams. Right? Or whatever other artist you admire, imagine you got to swap messages with them throughout the week.

The other people in all of this isn’t just for the opportunities is might present, but also in helping build the belief that you belong. That you matter, that the art you make matters, that your ideas and dreams aren’t ridiculous.

Michael Gilbride and I spoke about this a bunch yesterday, about community and IRL gatherings.

Neither of us have all the answers, but when get together with other people we get closer to figuring it out.

What’s interesting from today’s Tool Time Show and Tell call was how it eventually got to paper. Like notebooks, planners, wall calendars. We talked about how the brain reacts different to writing with a pencil, in a different way than just typing.

It’s not just a pencil, it’s a tool. For centuries we wrote, physically, and there were tools involved, that we used with our hands.

You can have music playing all day on your computer, but with vinyl and CDs you need to physically interact with them.

There is no infinite scroll with physical objects. No endless playlist.

I can add 100 things to my todo app, but there’s only so many things I can write on a legal pad.

​This Escape Pod Zoom call is for those just getting started! Maybe you’re not looking to turn this into a six figure business, you just want to make work and find your people along the way.

​We’ll probably talk about:

• ​Where you people might be (especially outside of social media)
• ​Small, chill ways that let people know what you do
• ​How to find like-minded folks for easy-going collaborations
• ​Small ways to stay visible without burning yourself out
• ​How to keep it going without burning out

​And hey, old-schoolers – you’ve already done this, so please come and share your experience and wisdom, too. This is gonna be a good time.

Monday, Sep 28 at 9:00 AM EDT → https://luma.com/4bswy3zo
Thursday, Oct 1 at 2:00 PM → https://luma.com/ud9em9yw