What happens when being online is no longer the interesting part?

I think social media is dying.

Not Instagram.

Not X.

Not TikTok.

Not YouTube.

I’m talking about the idea of social media as we’ve known it.

The mindless scrolling.

The obsession with followers.

The belief that views equal influence.

The idea that because 100,000 people saw something, it must mean something.

I don’t think the internet is going anywhere.

I think our relationship with it is changing.

And mine already has.

I Used to Chase the Numbers

There was a point when I figured out how to make TikTok’s algorithm work for me.

And once I figured it out, I became obsessed with it.

I could spend hours making sure a video hit at least 10,000 views.

10,000 became the standard.

Then I wanted more followers.

I built multiple accounts with 30,000, 40,000, even 50,000 followers.

Altogether, more than 80,000 people followed those accounts.

According to the scoreboard, I was winning.

Views were coming in.

Followers were going up.

The algorithm was working.

There was only one problem.

Nobody was buying shit.

I had attention.

But attention by itself wasn’t doing anything for me.

Eventually, I stopped obsessing over how many people watched the video and started paying attention to how many people actually took action.

Did they click?

Did they visit the page?

Did they buy?

That’s when I started making money.

It taught me something I didn’t fully understand when I was chasing 10,000 views:

Views measure attention.

Clicks measure intention.

Actions measure influence.

Those are not the same thing.

Why Am I Here?

Today, I look at these platforms completely differently.

Before I open one, I need to know why I’m there.

Because I’ve learned that every platform has its own kryptonite for me.

YouTube can put me in a chokehold because I genuinely enjoy it. I’ll tell myself I’m watching one thing and suddenly I’ve gone down a rabbit hole.

X gets me differently.

It can make me start forcing engagement.

Checking replies.

Looking at numbers.

Trying to make something hit.

TikTok?

That’s dopamine.

One video becomes another.

Then another.

Then another.

So now there needs to be a purpose.

If I’m on X, I’m probably there to engage or distribute something.

If I’m on TikTok, I’m probably researching.

If I’m on YouTube, I’m researching something or I’ve intentionally decided I want to be entertained.

Instagram barely gets opened.

The question is simple:

Why am I here?

If I can’t answer that, I probably don’t need to open the app.

That’s a very different relationship with social media than I had years ago.

And I don’t think I’m the only one changing.

The Internet Has an Authenticity Problem

A couple of years ago, the leader of Warrior Walks and I had a conversation about where all of this might eventually go.

This was before AI became what it is today.

Before the average person could easily generate realistic images, voices, avatars and entire personalities.

We were talking about something much simpler.

People were craving something real.

We noticed it when we were outside.

Nature.

Walking.

Actual experiences.

Those things stood out because so many people weren’t doing them.

Everybody was inside.

Everybody was looking at screens.

Everybody was connected.

And that’s when something interesting happens.

Whatever becomes normal eventually makes its opposite scarce.

If everybody works inside a modern building, being in the woods becomes interesting.

If everybody lives through a screen, physical experiences become valuable.

If everybody is connected online, actual community becomes scarce.

Now add AI.

You can see a person online today and legitimately have to ask whether that person exists.

Pictures can be generated.

Voices can be cloned.

A man can appear to be a woman.

A woman can appear to be a man.

Entire lifestyles can be manufactured.

Eventually, people start asking:

What the hell is real?

And when digital authenticity becomes harder to determine, I believe physical authenticity becomes more valuable.

Maybe People Don’t Want Less Connection

Maybe they want real connection.

We’re already seeing pieces of it.

Run clubs.

Fitness communities.

Events.

Small groups.

People getting outside.

People meeting around shared interests.

The format changes, but the human need doesn’t.

We still want community.

We still want to belong somewhere.

We still want people who know our name.

That’s something I’ve learned throughout completely different careers.

Real estate.

Personal training.

Barbering.

People aren’t buying a house from you every day.

Someone who works out every day doesn’t need you to train them every day.

Someone who gets haircuts regularly doesn’t necessarily need you cutting their hair every week.

But people remember who brought them value.

They remember conversations.

They remember how you treated them.

They remember what you know.

And when the time comes that they need what you provide, they know who to call.

That’s community.

Not an impression.

Not a view.

Not somebody scrolling past your face for three seconds.

A relationship.

What Happens When the Phone Goes Dark?

This is where I think we’re going to have a problem.

There are people who have built their entire identities around social media.

Their follower count tells them how important they are.

Their engagement tells them whether people care.

Their algorithm tells them whether they’re relevant.

But what happens if those things stop carrying the same weight?

Take away the followers.

Take away the impressions.

Take away the blue check.

Take away the algorithm.

Take away the phone.

Who knows you when the phone goes dark?

Who calls you?

Who invites you somewhere?

Who trusts you?

What can you actually do?

What value can you provide without an algorithm introducing you first?

Those questions matter more to me today than how many people viewed my last post.

I’m Still Going to Use Social Media

I’m not deleting everything and moving into the woods.

That would miss the point.

I still need social media.

It’s leverage.

I can record one video and potentially reach more people than I could physically speak to in a month.

I can publish an idea and have somebody on the other side of the world read it seconds later.

That’s incredible.

I’m going to use that.

But there’s a difference between using something and belonging to it.

The platform needs to have a purpose.

Research.

Distribution.

Engagement.

Entertainment when I deliberately choose entertainment.

Otherwise, why am I there?

That question alone can probably give some people hours of their lives back.

The End Might Not Look Like an Ending

Maybe social media never actually dies.

Maybe X, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and whatever comes next continue growing.

Maybe the technology gets even better.

Maybe that’s not the ending we should be watching for.

Maybe the real ending happens when enough people realize they don’t need to spend their entire day there.

When followers become a metric instead of an identity.

When views become information instead of validation.

When people stop confusing attention with influence.

When we start deliberately choosing when we’re online instead of instinctively reaching for the phone.

That would change everything.

Because social media would finally become what it should have been all along.

A tool.

Use the tool.

Don’t let the tool use you.

If social media disappeared tomorrow, I’d continue living my life.

I’d lose some reach.

But I’d probably gain twice as much time.

Maybe that’s worth thinking about.

Blueprint your sovereignty.

—Drew