My childhood included a home foreclosure and a family split because of it. Calling my parents in their later years meant talking into an answering machine, “hey guys, it’s me, Seth” and then my dad (usually) picking up the phone. “We’re here, we’re here, yes, hello!?”

They screened their calls to avoid debt collectors.

Somehow my sister and I have avoided any major financial disasters, so long as you don’t count credit card debts that come and go every few years.

All that so say, I’ve got some shame around money and (of course) taxes.

I had a phone call with a good friend and we laughed about a tax situation I’m currently facing (don’t worry, it’s fine). We shared our collective money horror stories and I felt better afterwards. Shame crumbles under the weight of laughter.

There was shame in our early Escape Pod Zoom calls.

People felt bad because they couldn’t figure out social media. They saw other people with more followers, or more shows, or more freelance work. Just, more.

The shame of “doing bad” on social media is heavy.

So if you’re looking to leave social media, it’s best to get around some people who are on a similar path, heading in the same direction.

Social media has done so much to isolate us. Alone in our studios or bedrooms, it’s us against the world. It’s us against the corporate behemoths. It’s us against the algorithms.

As artists, as creative people, as just dumb humans meandering on this earth it helps when we talk about these things with others. Finding those people is not easy, but you start where you’re at.

Find your freaks, your weirdos, the creative misfits in your creative orbit and go deeper with them. When we spend less time on social media we’ve got time for getting closer with real people instead of just amassing “followers.”

That might look like sending memes to people, instead of posting them for “everyone.” Eventually you talk on the phone, or swap text messages. You might start hosting or joining group Zoom calls, the kind that give you energy and look forward to. Eventually you meet in person and that’s amazing. That’s the grand prize. That’s how we get away from social media and algorithms and shadow bans and spam filters.

It’s less tactics and strategies and more about people. We get our work into the real world and let it interact and bounce off of other curious people instead of bots. Print it out, leave it around, put it in places where people will trip over it, not matter what that looks like.

Talk about your radio show at an open mic night.
Call the local radio station and tell them you’re coming to town.
Put up stickers on light poles.
Leave zines in various shops.
Seek collaboration over isolation.

Yes, this is harder than posting something on social media or following some new trendy hashtag, but this is our path to make.

When we send our work into the universe and let it bounce into other people, that’s when we break the shame, the guilt, and the fear that it’s all for nothing.