Why Forth Studio Left Social Media in 2026: Digital Minimalism, Community, and Building a Business Offline
Forth Studio Chicago left social media in March 2026. Learn how digital minimalism, local community, and offline connection helped us grow our movement and meditation business without Instagram or TikTok.
One of my favorite parts of being an entrepreneur is hearing from other business owners that they just simply couldn’t do something for the sake of their business, and being able to successfully pull it off. At the root of it, it’s not in spite of other businesses - it’s in alignment with why I quit my day job to open my own business.
I left my cushy job in CPG tech back in 2022 to open my own movement and meditation studio in Chicago, Forth Studio. Another studio, hundreds of members, 30+ employees, and a lululemon ambassadorship later - I’m very proud of this vision brought to life.
Part of the “fun” of leaving the corporate world to do your own thing is that you have a ton more control. For some people that is a scary thing! Every little choice is yours to make. I find this empowering - but it’s a lot to think about all the time!
source: zezedumpling on pinterest
In my first year of business, I attended a tech-free meditation retreat. Not only was it empowering to (with adequate processes in place) trust my business to support itself for a week, but it also radicalized my relationship to technology.
As a business owner who used social media as a marketing tool, I felt so conflicted. We were still establishing ourselves and social media is a useful tool to do so, but in exchange we were perpetuating social media use for our community. As a business intended to increase our members’ wellness, this just seemed backwards. I had the instinct that we didn’t need social media to succeed, but I wanted the time to think thoroughly about this decision and how to not take my business down after following my instincts to go offline.
source: angel222777111 on pinterest
The year prior to taking the dive to leave all social media, I plunged into it as much as I could:
Posting daily videos which garnered decent virality across multiple platforms
Spending probably way too much money on paid advertising to assess whether this investment converted to actual members
Collecting data on how our own students discover us, and running analysis on the the method of discovery compared to life time value of customers
Talking to so many other business owners about this wild idea to leave social media, gaining both skepticism and support
Taking an honest look at how much of my time I was spending on a weekly basis on social media for the business
At the end of the day, a huge thing going for us is our industry. As a movement studio with two locations on the busiest street in our neighborhood, our location itself does a lot of our marketing legwork for us. Unlike beauty or food products where a consumer may see something trending online and purchase it one-off from immediately, we are quite geographically constrained. Yes, people may come check out a buzzy new studio on the other side of town once in a while, but nearly all of our revenue comes from reoccurring monthly memberships - most of whom live incredibly close by.
Yes, we did get some cool opportunities from being on social media - like holding a pop-up pilates and soundbath class at Rivian last year - but those opportunities feed the ego, not my business model. These sorts of opportunities are fun to lead, take up a lot of my time, and do not translate into reoccurring memberships most of the time.
pilates and soundbath amongst car tires - not an opportunity you get every day!
We left social media in March 2026, and our revenue and membership number has since increased month over month. I also got back roughly 10-15 hours of my week as a founder, which goes back into my personal life but also to running my business. I call that a win!
Why More Businesses Are Exploring Life After Social Media
While our decision to leave social media may seem unusual, we're not alone. A growing number of entrepreneurs, creators, and local businesses are questioning whether constant online visibility is actually helping them build healthier businesses or healthier lives.
Terms like digital minimalism, social media detox, intentional technology use, and offline community building have become increasingly common as people push back against the expectation that every business needs to constantly create content.
For local businesses especially, the equation is often different than it is for online brands. Most of our members discover Forth Studio through word of mouth, neighborhood visibility, Google search, local partnerships, community events, and recommendations from friends. These are the same channels that have helped businesses thrive for decades before social media existed.
As conversations around entrepreneur burnout, screen addiction, and digital wellness continue to grow, we believe there is tremendous value in investing in real-world relationships. For us, building a movement and meditation community in Chicago has always been about helping people spend less time consuming wellness content and more time actually experiencing wellness.
The future of wellness may not be more online. It may be more local, more intentional, and more connected to the people physically around us.