Category: CommunityCategory: Community

So later this month I’m doing another workshop, err… pizza party. The MAKING COZY VIDEOS PIZZA PARTY.

I’m still learning how to do workshops, and honestly, I don’t like the set of expectations that are tied to them. I believe we learn better together, so while I’m fine talking about what I think is best, I encourage everyone in the room to talk about what works for them as well.

My rectangle in a Zoom call doesn’t know all the answers, but together we get closer to what we’re looking for.

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I set up at a punk rock flea market last weekend with a friend, along with a stack of neon flyers and some old music gear to sell. I made some good sales, but I also had some great conversations.

A dozen people stopped by to talk about quitting social media, ditching Spotify, or just wanting something beyond the feed. Some chats were lighthearted, and others felt almost like confessions. What struck me was how different it felt compared to sending out a newsletter or posting online. The proximity, the in-person energy, it all gave the words so much more weight.

It made me wonder: what if we built more spaces like this? Not just tables with stuff to sell, but couches, chairs, maybe even a little “confession booth” for honest conversations about our relationship with these platforms. That’s where the real escape feels possible, not just by deleting some apps, but in the spaces we make to talk openly and honestly about spending less time on our phones.

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Peabody-winning producer, journalist, and cat rap pioneer Sean Cannon, from a recent Escape Pod guest appearance.

“All you have to do is just be 5% better than everyone else who’s really bad at it. You don’t have to get everything perfect… you just have to be a little bit better so you can survive the war of attrition.”

You don’t have to our run a bear, you just need to out run your friends all the impatient people around you.

(Updated 7/5/2026)

It don’t have to be pretty, it just had to be done.

I’m setting up at a the Lehigh Valley Punk Rock Flea Market this weekend with a friend, and I’ll be selling some musical equipment and records and Star Wars books.

Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025
Vendor Time: 10 AM – 4 PM
Live Music Time: 4:30 – 7:30 PM
Location: The Ice House, 56 River St, Bethlehem, PA 18018

I made a few of these for curious onlookers to pick up and discover the magic of Social Media Escape Club because there’s a great big world out there that might never know about this community!

The text, “Maybe centralized kingdoms of power and influence aren’t the answer,” is from a 2024 post titled “It’s time to do whatever we want.”

As in, we can spend a couple of bucks at a local print shop and make something like this, instead of paying Meta or Twitter to “boost” our posts for absolutely nobody to see.

At least this way maybe three people discover my work, right? And maybe one becomes a member?

Plus, I’ll be having a great day hanging out with my BFF as we try to unload gear we don’t use anymore. I’m forecasting a great return on investment.

I didn’t leave social media because I listened to the OFF THE GRID podcast and Amelia Hruby, PHD told me step by step how to delete my accounts, or give me steps 1-10 how I’d find work if I don’t have a LinkedIn account.

I left the social media platforms because Amelia showed that it was possible.

Artist Edgar Fabián Frías, from a recent Off The Grid episode, on leaving social media:

“It’s like we’re all starting to reorient and move in a different direction. And of course it’s gonna take, you know, a lot of different shapes and forms.

But I am just so excited to see like how we start to innovate, ’cause we’re all so creative and, and you know, there’s so many geniuses in our networks that I’m thrilled to see what happens when we start to kind of put our energy in this direction.”

If there’s a map, there’d be no magic to it because it takes away the tension. When there’s no tension, it’s just color by numbers, something to follow, and if it doesn’t work out, you can point your finger and say, “see? I knew it wouldn’t work.”

A new way is possible, and it’s gonna require some work, magic, and community to figure it all out.

We’ll find the new way together, when dipping our feet into a creek, or during the conversation on a long drive home after a show.