The Entertainment Factor

The landscape of our lives is forever changing. We may often have rose-tinted nostalgia glasses on, thinking the past was so much simpler than our present-day life. When in reality life just changed, and we are now in different stages of adulthood that require different kinds of responsibility. As I inevitably get older, I want to take some of the positive perspectives I cherished as a younger person. Not losing a sense of wonder in the world, but being able to infuse wonder with mature curiosity and healthy skepticism, bringing a bit more confidence into unfamiliar situations while remembering the taste of humble pie in my mouth.

At the end of January 2025, I turned 44 years old. And I chose to start taking bigger steps away from social media. When you think about it, social media is a new tool that fell into the laps of the public around 2006. I would say it was more common to be on that social media platform and others starting around 2008. Which is less than 20 years trying to figure out how to navigate a powerful tool.

Around 2015, I started building my goat milk soap business, and my small herd of San Clemente Island goats was growing. I taught myself about marketing, website building, and finally, utilizing social media as a marketing tool. I quickly learned that social media for a business held possibilities but was fickle, especially if you were an agricultural-based business that sold meat.

As my business grew, so did my social media. While I heard stories, I got to experience firsthand how unreliable social media could be. Someone(s) decided to spam my page and report every post I made as inappropriate. It happened in early 2023, when there was little to no real human help to ask for. Only AI-generated and useless responses. Since I could not respond appropriately, my administrative status was revoked, and I could never regain custody of that again. My original facebook business page is still floating around out there. Hopefully nobody else gains control of it, but who knows?

I’m not trying to share a woe is me story, but rather to shine light on what social media platforms are. They exist exclusively on creator content, but we, as creators, have no ownership of that content after we post something on that platform. It seems like a fairly unbalanced tool. The same can be said for influencers and all other social media platforms that may allow people to monetize off that platform. Of course, there are pros and cons, and it is up to us as individuals to make that choice. But we also have to think about other choices we have regarding marketing and monetization. The options are limited unless we work hard on more grassroots marketing, engagement, and community building.

This social media realization is nothing new; I have felt this way since creating an account with facebook and other platforms. While I think there are still good reasons to utilize it, I cannot keep engaging. Even if I still ran a business, I would work on moving away from using these platforms. It begs the question if we are using the tool or is the tool using us?

There are plenty of other layers as to why I’m moving away from social media. Another being how overwhelmingly exhausting it is to keep engaged. I have zero interest in creating entertainment for people to consume like pop rocks. Greenwashing, especially in anything agriculture-related related is disgusting. People are getting inundated with buzzwords, fads, and misinformation in overwhelming waves. No, raw goat milk isn’t going to cure your cancer, and drinking coffee with butter in it won’t suppress your appetite and help you lose weight. (Though I love butter and maple syrup in my coffee!) I’m not going to dance in a pretty apron and spoon-feed you shockingly dishonest stories about my farming life and experiences. Farming is intensely complicated and hard, with slim margins. People who show off how great their farm is doing usually aren’t telling you the full story. Don’t get me wrong, I know plenty of working farmers, but they don’t have time for social media hootenannies. Don’t even get me started on the trad wife junk.

I’m a goat conservation farmer and land steward. I utilize a multitude of resources and help from qualified and educated people to assist me in making the right choices for my goals and the overall health of all that I care for. I’m not going to dance for you, make wild claims stating them to be “truths”, or start a cult. I will do my best to follow my moral compass, engage and encourage, and help in ways that I think I’m capable of helping. I want to relish in the wonder I still feel.

There are other people and businesses making similar exit strategies. Consider signing up for newsletters, bookmarking your favorite websites, visiting blogs, and thinking about all the other ways we used to stay in touch and support businesses before social media happened.

After all this, I may come across as being jaded. And perhaps I am. But I’m excited to move on and keep enjoying life and pursuing goals. And even more excited to keep working within my communities and friend groups.

Thank you for your support!

-Erin