I'm seeing a lot of posts from people about leaving Instagram. And I'm curious.

I would love to do it. I would love to leave social media altogether. I left Twitter because of how toxic it has become, I don't use Facebook at all now except for the writers’ group that I manage. I hate LinkedIn and avoid it most of the time (much to my business partner's frustration!). Instagram is really all that's left, and I hate it. I hate the incessant need for external validation that it fuels. I hate how addictive it is. I hate how negative and polarised so many interactions are. I hate that the algorithm means I'm mostly shouting into the wind. And yet.

Most of the people who are leaving have big followings that they can bring over here. I don't. I'm trying to build an audience and build a writing career. Is it professional suicide to take yourself off public platforms when you're not well known enough to draw crowds across? Can you really build an audience exclusively on @Substack when there aren't the mechanisms to promote smaller writers? Can you build a creative business without social media? Can we even live in a world without social media anymore? (I would like to!)