Words, Words, Words

Writing is my release. It's also my therapy. And my memory-keeper. I use it for activism and for relaxation. In the past couple of years, I have felt more of connection to others through reading and writing than I have face to face. I love to write, whether it's 140 character tweets, Facebook statuses, blog posts, texts, emails, or, one day, a book. The other thing I love is taking pictures, as evidenced by my 9 year photography business. I guess that's why I ADORE instagram-- it gives you a way to combine writing AND photography.

This past week, on two different occasions, reference has been made in a public setting by a public speaker to my social media presence. Although I don't think either person had any sort of negative intentions, it has caused me to step back and analyze all day today. And worry. Which, in light of the legitimate worries and fears I'm having right now, wasn't really the best timing.  But maybe it took my mind off those? .... Nah.

In regard to time, I think non-writers overestimate the amount of time it takes to formulate a tweet, fb post, or instagram caption. Those are usually sucking... 1-3 minutes, if that, from my life. IF, that is, you view it as sucking time from your life, which I don't. I don't see it as sucking time from my life because I typically have a specific reason to post. And those reasons fit into a couple of different categories.

I have an activity that I use sometimes with my students in which they analyze their time on social media. They study their patterns over the course of a week and then fit their posts/tweets into categories. I think you also need to consider your audience and my audience varies greatly from instagram to Facebook to twitter. My social media posts are MOSTLY instagram photos. Those photos serve either to document, entertain, or humor. I use social media as an online scrapbook. Aside from photos, I find that I typically use twitter for either social activism, education, or humor. I do allow my current students to follow me on twitter, although I don't follow them, so I often tweet things that pertain to classes and the news. Facebook is a little different. My Facebook posts are typically either for humor, entertainment, documentation, or seeking information. To me, Facebook's tremendous worth is in having an entire community of input at your fingertips. Last week I got TONS of vacation suggestions and this week on instagram, unsolicited, I got two GREAT suggestions for finding sunglasses!

I guess what I don't understand about people who complain about either frequency or content of posts by others (and it should be noted that I don't think either person who addressed me this past week was complaining, but rather observing) is that the beauty of social media is that it's the ONE PLACE IN YOUR LIFE where you CAN walk away! I'll be honest and say there have been a few people in my newsfeed who just plain literally drive me crazy with the type of things they post. In January, I decided that I would be a much happier person if I did not see those things, so I used that really handy "Hide posts" feature on fb! WOW! Instant mood improvement. I don't understand why people don't utilize that.

I love social media. I don't think that it takes away from my real life at all or that I miss things by posting on social media. I am a photographer by nature and so I would be taking photos of events anyway. I don't believe that the 3 minutes it takes to post photos means that I am removing myself from the community. I will acknowledge that there was a time in my life I spent entirely too much time READING social media (and sometimes I slip back into that when there's something in particular happening that I fixate on), but I've dealt with that issue. I am very careful WHAT I post and HOW I say it. I know the power of words and I try with all of my heart to let my social media activity be positive, encouraging, and loving. I guess it's the careful attention I give to words that makes me extra sensitive to comments that may just be intended as casual joking about me and social media.

I reached a point today in which I decided against this post because truly, there's no need for me to explain or justify my writing/posts. However, as it got late and even turned to early morning and I was still mulling it over, I knew I had to write about it and get it out, if only just to reassure myself. I feel better. The words, they do that for me. :)