Social Media Hiatus (and Why I Stopped On Day 79)

Over the past few years, I have wrestled with my interaction with social media. Being a millennial, social media has been a part of my life for over 13 years. I can remember when I first signed up for Facebook albeit I was late to the party on Spring Break 2007. Since then, I have had all various forms of mainstream social media outlets. Although these numbers have fluctuated over time, here are some current data of my social media usage:

• 1 Facebook account
  • 5 managed Facebook pages
  • 7 co-managed Facebook groups
• 2 Twitter accounts
• 3 Instagram accounts

Some would say this is a problem. I would guess that others probably manage more accounts that myself, but that does not give an excuse. I recently read Cal Newport’s book Digital Minimalism and received confirmation that this next step is what is needed for Last Row Music.

During the month of March, Last Row Music will not be posting on any social media network.

I want to try a few things:

1. I want to see how much true traffic goes to this website without being broadcasted via social media. At the end of the day, how is a brand’s loyalty viewed? Through the followers of social media, through its email subscribers, and/or through the dollars it sees by the selling of products and services?
2. I want to see that by saving time from checking ‘likes’ that I can focus more on ‘Deep Work‘ – another term coined by Cal Newport. I read recently a profile in Tim Ferriss’ book Tribe of Mentors regarding the idea that by having various social media platforms, you essentially are allowing yourself more opportunities to be in the ‘Customer Service’ department by answering comments rather than the ‘Research & Development’ department. By not being on social media, I want more time to write LRM articles and update these valuable resources.
3. I want to see if by disengaging through social media, I can engage more in conversation. With all that has gone on with social media’s privacy breaches, an email is still a useful tool for engaging an audience. Some of the greatest marketers in our time, say that in order to build a following, you first must create an email list. FYI – sign up here if you are not part of The Weekly Sectional and receive a list of over 900 podcast episodes for the brass musician.
4. By spending less time on social media, I can spend more time on things that actually matter. Let’s be honest – social media is a time and productivity thief. Yes, it is possible to be in control of your usage and to use it as a marketing tool, but at the end of the day, they (this includes phone/tablet apps) are in control because they have already lured you into the taking up your time. I want to end this time theft from myself so I can spend time with my wife and son. Which leads up to…

Why I Stopped #100DaysOfPractice on Day 79

If you followed Last Row Music’s social media pages recently, you noticed that I was embarking on a journey of practicing for 100 consecutive days by sharing a sampling of recorded practice from each day (check out this hashtag to see some of the videos). While I noticed a great improvement during the journey, I hit a roadblock on Day 79. At the end of the day, when I began to get up to practice for the evening, my 8-month son looked at me and started moving. As in, he started SLOWLY crawling for the first time. I thought to myself “I don’t want to miss this moment just so I can keep my practice streak alive.”

This was a moment where the identity of Father superseded the identity of Musician.

I still practiced the next day and have since then, but I asked myself for what was I really doing this #100DaysOfPractice? Was it for personal development? Sort of. But honestly, it was to drive more traffic to social media. Selfish, I know and therefore, why I stopped. As I have been following along Jason Sulliman’s journey of 1000 Days of Practice, I have been inspired to drop the social media-ness and focus on the deep work of being a blogger, educator, musician, and most importantly, a husband and father.

Starting on March 1, 2019 – for at least 31 days – Last Row Music will not be sharing or updating any content via social media. Articles will be written, auditions will be posted, and events will be added. The only way updates will be seen will be through readers sharing articles and content and by subscribing to the weekly newsletter.

If you need to get a hold of me, you may message me or email me.

Jeremy E. Smith
Founder and Editor, Last Row Music