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I’ve been thinking about social media a lot as of late. We watched the documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma a while back and I’ve been trying to be much more mindful of when and how I am using my social media. What I found is that I have a huge problem of losing myself to hours upon hours of scrolling...endless scrolling. Turns out someone came up with the idea to have endless scrolling, makes me respect them but also hate them for my addiction. But here’s the thing, I can be the master of my own destiny. I do not need to bow to the small gods that are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I am stronger than that. I hope...
So far I’ve managed to cut back my social media time a lot, but not completely. Which is OK but I’d honestly like to be on it, like, only once per week...if that.
Beyond that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about not posting about my blog posts on any of the socials. It’s honestly adding yet another layer to simply writing and posting...then I “have to” promote it on the socials because that’s just what you do.
I’m gonna be real with you, I dislike posting about my blog on Facebook. OK, maybe it’s more of a love/hate thing. It’s an extra step I often wish I could forget but it also makes me happy to see others engaging with what I wrote. I often feel like what I write is crap. Obviously someone else could do something better. Yet, I do like to write, so I do, ignoring the sinister voices in the back of my mind. Social media seems to add to the sinister voices more than it helps vanquish them, I think.
Further honesty, sometimes when I post to my blog and share on Facebook (sometimes forgetting completely about Instagram or Twitter...) all I want to do is obsessively check if anyone, anyone at all, has reacted to my post. I am desperate for the “love” that it shows when someone likes my posts. Though, if I dig deeper, what I really want is a real, honest, deep conversation. Unfortunately it feels that social media doesn’t really allow for that, especially these days with all the scary algorithms that feed you an echo chamber of your own world views.
I don’t want to get stuck being fed what I already believe. I’d like to be challenged, to discuss real issues without devolving into yelling nonsense at each other in hopes of swaying by verbal bludgeoning. It doesn’t work. Being real and kind to others and asking for their stories is a much better way to understand each other. And, yeah, sometimes you’ll never believe the same thing as someone you care about. Tough, that’s life, you should love them regardless. Maybe it could even open your eyes on a different issue, I don’t know. All I do know is that being kind is a far better direction that the yelling matches I have seen.
I’ve also been finding that social media takes time that I could be spending doing something I really want to do, not that scrolling and scrolling for what feels like hours...though sometimes that’s real. I feel like we’ve all spent hours on social media... The more I think about it the more I like the idea of taking a break from socials with an open ending in mind. Maybe I’ll be back, maybe not. Maybe I’ll lurk for a bit once a week. I don’t know.
What I do know is that I’m feeling kinda burnt out on all the virtual communication methods we’ve been needing to employ this last year of pandemic. Yes, I am grateful for the technology that allows us to see each other safely but it’s not the same. And while it can be less physically taxing (as a rediscovered introvert, this is no joke, I’m finding) it can be taxing in other ways.
So, I’m taking a needed socials break y’all.
I think there will be blog posts still but I don’t think I want to be on any social media so if you wanna read anything you’ll need to be checking my website. And, if I haven’t said it before, thanks for reading my thoughts; it means a lot that anyone actually reads this stuff!
with <3
—A Recovering Design Imposter