I started using LinkedIn on a trial basis a few months ago.
It wasn’t for personal use, but as the representative of my company, I created an account to increase our visibility.
LinkedIn is often described as the B2B version of Facebook, and in many ways, that description is accurate. To be completely honest,
“I found it unbearably tedious.”
That was my honest impression. (I’ve already deactivated my account.)
Connections kept increasing even though I never posted
Since creating the account, I never posted anything personal. I only used it to repost company columns or share achievements.
I never sent connection requests myself, yet I kept receiving them—from corporate representatives trying to expand their reach, and from sales agencies looking for leads.
Sales messages came in constantly. Some even visited my company website and then sent copy‑and‑paste sales emails.
To be fair, this is normal for a B2B‑focused platform. From a business perspective, sending sales messages is the “correct” approach.
But still— it was annoying. Really, really annoying.
Even though I practically abandoned the account for half a year, it somehow accumulated over 500 connections.
And honestly, I couldn’t help but think:
“Does this number even mean anything?”
I used to be addicted to social media
It’s often said that Japanese people love social media, and during my freelance years, I was completely hooked.
I had accounts on every major platform— Twitter (now X), Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest— and I would scroll through them endlessly, from morning until night, in an infinite loop.
Eventually, I quit everything. There was a period when work became overwhelming, and during that time, I deleted all my social media accounts.
It was also around the time minimalism started gaining traction.
I still remember the feeling clearly— as if the shackles had been removed, the heaviness in my head disappeared, and my vision became crystal clear.
Simply having social media accounts is stressful for me
LinkedIn itself wasn’t the issue.
I realized that just having social media accounts is stressful for me.
Part of it is the notifications, but more than that, the sheer volume of information and the constant exposure to it creates a kind of mental noise.
Even though I only checked LinkedIn once every two days, it still brought back that old feeling of being addicted.
“Just having it around is exhausting.”
That’s genuinely how I felt.
Of course, from a sales and marketing perspective, social media is a valuable and essential tool.
But personally—and even as a company representative— I don’t think I’ll be using social media at all going forward.
Scrap and Build
Since I’ve said I won’t be using social media anymore, some people might wonder:
“Then what is this website for?”
But for me,
- the company website (including column updates)
- and this personal website
serve different purposes.
The company website is essential as an official source of information. This website, on the other hand, is something I hope becomes reading material for people who share similar interests and sensibilities.
I used to run both the company website and a separate site that served as the predecessor to this blog, but I deleted that older site recently.
The content was starting to overlap with the company website, and it had also been hit by bot attacks.
Managing three separate sites would interfere with my main work, and to be honest, I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.
In that sense, there are many things I want to rebuild from scratch— a personal Scrap and Build— and this website is part of that process.
It will take time, but I want to simplify things so I can focus on what truly matters to me.
