Like it's 1999

For a number of reasons, I've changed the way I interact with social media.

I've been pretty absent on those platforms for a while anyway, pulling away as it's so clear the experience and intent of social media has mutated over time away from personal connection to profit at any expense. I'm sick of doom scrolling, and I'm sick of screaming into a void when I do post. I'm not being reached by people who want to reach me, and I'm not reaching the people I want to reach. Social media no longer serves us, or the veil that it ever did has truly slipped now. Recent conversation around providing government ID for age verification has provided an additional nudge to reconsider.

At this stage, I don't intend to delete my Facebook and Instagram accounts, but I will pin posts on them pointing to where you can better reach me, including this blog. It should be entirely possible to work around the age verification hoops and keep my pages up, if my ~18yo account is even flagged as 'too young' in the first place.

I'm also exploring options to allow me to schedule stories or posts with minimal (ideally zero) time spent on the platforms themselves. For better or worse (ie. worse) in the creative industries it's important to be online, available and appearing busy at all times. Facebook is the Rolodex, Instagram is the resumé. Spare me!

So where am I?

For messaging purposes, I'm on Signal, or you can just text me (reach out if you need my number!). Not afraid of a phone call either.

Email is strongly preferred for any business comms - ellen@ellenmakesnoise.com. Spam me up.

If you want to see where I'm gigging and get the odd life update from me, I've recently set up this Pagecord blog to supplement my business website. I might move up to the pro plan, and if I do you can subscribe to a weekly digest if you're so inclined!

If you've made it this far, I'm also toying with some Fediverse alternatives to the current horrorshow monopoly of commercial social media providers. I do have Bluesky but don't care much for it (@ellenmakesnoise.bsky.social), the Twitter-like format has never been my thing. I'm also setting up a Pixelfed (@ellenmakesnoise@yourpix.au) but it's currently empty. This is more my vibe though, expect more here...or don't?

This isn't designed to come across as a holier-than-thou post about how I'm so enlightened, ascending from social media to a higher level of being. I am, but I don't want to rub your nose in it. Kidding, I watch way too much YouTube and doomscroll Reddit arguments like a moron. This is a work thoroughly in-progress.

My (hopefully sustained) shift away from social media is all part of a concerted effort to reclaim my time, act with purpose and do away with what's being forced upon me in pursuit of the life I actually need to build, because no one is handing that out for free.