Do The Talking: Do we really need to try so hard to be socially active? (social anxiety related)

Hi!

So pretty much a while ago Mikaela @ The Well-Thumbed Reader (btw, her blog is awesome, you should really check it out!) shared her 11 most secretive blogging confessions (trust me, you’re gonna relate to almost all of that), and she mentioned social activity as one of them, so it immediately triggered a thought in me, and that’s how I came up with today’s discussion topic. Many many opinions are very much appreciated, because I’m seriously interested in what you folks think on this!

So the concern of today is:

Do we really need to try so hard to be socially active?

What I’ve noticed on myself for the past two months is a significant decrease of my own social activity on bookstagram. Sure I’m still keeping up with blog posts, but what about instagram? When I first started it, I posted up to 3 times a day, and I felt very excited joining the bookish community.

However, as time passed, I found myself less and less active. Yes, sure I do have monthly goals on achieving stats, but do I really care about whether I get them or not within the stated time?

If you’ve read my previous post on bookstagram hardships, then you know I’m that type of person who had many concerns about social activity. As time went by, and my promises to myself (and my followers) to try to be more active became less and less real, I started questioning: “Do I really have to be such a tryhard? Do I really have to torture myself to that point?”

Because every time I push myself to be more active – try to seek more posts/bookstagrams, try to comment more on other bookstagrams, try to post more again – I find myself less and less interested in being active – not yet to the point of abandoning the bookstagram completely, but still. Come on, we all know the very first unspoken rule of whatever kind of instagram you’re running – do it as you like for yourself. Yes, sure, in order to gain thousands of followers, hundreds of likes and dozens of comments, you need to be equally active. But tell me the truth: is there anyone who can spend 2 to 3 FULL hours just for instagram activity every day? Because I seriously can’t think of any other way to keep up with 300+ accounts I follow considering that shitty instagram feed algorithm when will you allow us to choose, damn instagram ><

Also, a reminder: I’m here, existing in this damn world with a damn social anxiety that is completely not easy to cure. Why I should be pushing myself so hard to gain numbers? Why I should be forgetting that it’s the quality that matters, not the quantity?

Nobody’s telling you that you have to be very active. Commenting on every single post, even if you know nothing on the topic the OP talking about – what’s the point? Not knowing what to write in a caption so it attracts people to communicate – leave it until next time, why struggling as if it’s the end of the world if you don’t post right now?

I recently stopped visiting bookstagram as often as I used to do in the beginning – I even feel lazy hearting every post I like (and if you see my activity closely, I’m one of those who gives likes very easily, compared to commenting). Should I feel embarrassed of myself? – Nope. Tell me at least ONE reason why I should be.

I am a sociopath, and it’s a fact. And I don’t feel ashamed for feeling dozed off from bookstagram world where people talk about new books everyday. I even stopped caring about posting at least once a day so I won’t lose my audience, because anyways the response level is way too low in my own case, and because on some days I absolutely don’t feel like doing social activity. Plus, I have many other things in real life I’d like to do instead of sticking my nose onto instagram.

I stopped caring about my stats. Yes, I still feel a bit sad when my numbers still haven’t increased much, but I know the reason behind that, and I don’t want to push myself just in order to get something only visually pleasing that is a number of followers. I don’t want to bring out the bad quality to get cheap stats. I’m not on bookstagram for that.

Oh, and it’s actually been a while since I’ve last posted on bookstagram, so I better go upload something. 🙂

Choi Minki is such a hardworker hahaha~

Are you concerned about your social activity and how you can increase it/or actually reconsider your preferences?

It’s really interesting to see the change in your mindset once you get into something for a while! At first, I was also really concerned about getting good stats and getting that “fame”, but then I remembered that I’m really bad at time management, and that I have other more important concerns to take care of, so… Why having one more?

Really looking forward to your thoughts and opinions, guys! I truly believe that it’s an interesting topic to discuss, so… hit me with those comments!

Love you all,

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