What To Do When You Don't Like Turnips
And your favorite store is selling a bumper crop of them
Friends.
We have a THING going on in social media and other areas of public discourse where if someone doesn't like the conversation, they want it to just NOT EXIST. Not like they want to ignore it... they want its very existence erased.
Sigh.
So let me ask you to hold that thought while I tell you the Parable of Sam and the Turnips.
Parable of Sam and the Turnips
I don't like turnips. Of all the vegetables in my local stores, there are few things I dislike more. I'd be fine never seeing another.
So guess what? When I see them, I don't buy them.
BUT I don't tell the manager of the store that they can't stock turnips.
I don't tell the local farmers that they can't grow turnips.
I recognize that turnips are just not for me and I WALK ON BY.
I also don't get mad at my grocer for telling me about the turnips they're selling this week, or any other stuff I don’t buy (don’t get me started on celery!) They run a business, so they sell stuff. They might do it via a newsletter, they might do it via a social media feed, but they are in the business of selling things. If I follow them, I'm effectively opting into their business purpose, which is to sell me groceries, right?
So to equate my loathing of turnips to online platforms: if I don't care for the article, the post, the picture, or the video, I SCROLL ON BY. If I really don't like it (or the quantity of it coming through my world), I unfollow quietly and get on with my day.
If it's a business, I EXPECT to see them showing me their wares. I read a comment recently in the quilting world that someone wants business accounts to NOT post business posts selling stuff. It would be like getting my weekly grocery store email and opening it to find only pictures of kittens.
I get it. It can feel like everything is a sales pitch these days, but the reality is that social media platforms pretty much guarantee that only a very small percentage of followers actually see a post, so you have to post 10 different variations to make an impact. And if you're lucky (unlucky?) enough to see half of them, then yep, you're going to feel battered.
BUT.
For every post you hate, there’s someone else that loves it, and for every post you love, there’s someone else that hates it.
Find the ones you love, and leave the rest for others.
Bottom line: If you want less sale-y and more pretty, then go follow more pretty accounts.
You're always welcome to leave... but doing it quietly is golden. Huffing out of the room whilst promising to tell all your friends that someone is JUST THE WORST was embarrassing back in middle school, and it doesn't look good on anyone past thirteen in general.
JUST SCROLL ON BY.
Go brew a cuppa.
Call a friend.
Maybe even make some art!