I’m back, again. My return from this social media break is with great reluctance and mild ‘bleh’. Admittedly, I have been binge watching Parks & Rec and am feeling a strong affinity with Ron Swanson, but I promise that is not the reason and neither is a hatred or distain for social media. It was in all honesty just so nice to not have to be part of it all for a month
My break in 2018 coincided with a cruise, which meant I had minimal access to the internet and ample time to relax and separate myself from my usual day to day living. This year’s break, conversely, was me adjusting myself to my usual life sans social media. I had space to experience what living a normal life without all the input was really like. I’m sure it is no surprise that I loved it and I am also sure that most people reading this are also thinking how nice it sounds.
Social media is a constant presence in modern life. Constant connection, constant input, constant comparison. The addictiveness that calls you back after only a few seconds with a need to affirm and reaffirm. Just a moment of stillness and your neck subconsciously twists down, your elbow angles up and that screen is effortlessly placed in front of your eyes as your thumb starts swinging up and down in a blind search for any new content. Even the convenience of being able to gain helpful information or find answers to make the day flow efficiently is dampened by knowing that once you glean what you need, you are most certainly going to ‘just quickly’ check feeds and emails.
Most of us feel this sickly pull, so why do we keep doing it to ourselves? Why do I keep doing it to myself? As far as my creative life goes, this behaviour is a definite hindrance. Not only is it a distraction from my creative process, but I can almost physically feel it shifting my energy. After just a couple of days from deleting those apps I felt at ease and my creativity flowed must more readily, yet even after a month away and all the benefits I still instinctively reach for my phone in a quiet moment. I could explore all the psychology of this but there are plenty of articles that cover it already. What I am more concerned with at this point is the utter necessity of social media for someone who is trying to promote and run a (very) small business, even though it seems to muddy creativity.
My primary focus with Whipit is exploring and sharing my creative process. As an artist, I want to share and promote my work and connect with like minded individuals. As a small business owner, I would also like to share and promote my products and services, while connecting with my customers and being part of a community with others on this path. For all of these reasons, social media is a cornucopia. However, to continue producing my art and, subsequently, my products, social media is beyond doubt a huge strain on my creative energy, processes and even my time.
My break really highlighted that I need to work on finding a very healthy way to use these tools well rather than considering social media to be indicative of my presence in the world as an artist and a business owner. Social media is and should be just the tip of the iceberg, something that pops up on the surface of a life that is being lived with meaning, value and self worth. It is not a screenshot of life itself.
Because of this, I am continuing my social media break in a certain sense. I am going to trial setting a designated ‘social media time’ each day and use that for sharing my art and processes, just as I always have, but I’ll be keeping my creativity and life living in real time. I want to see life through my eyes instead of waiting for moments that will be photos. I also want to spend my time living my life and not using it to scroll through other people’s lives.
I’m sure I have said nothing especially noteworthy or new here. But I wanted to start making my resolutions concrete. I want to live by my values, and the first step in that is to share my values as words. Lets see if I hold myself to it.