Part two in my two-part series on Social Media in my life.
A while back I purchased a generic book at the local Barnes & Noble called 500 Drawing Prompts. It had no publisher listed. I just found it among those impulse book buys often seen in the store entry.
Drawing is one of my earliest joys, and I had been wanting to do more for fun and peace of mind. This book consisted of blank pages, some divided into two or more sections, with a brief drawing prompt: “bowl of soup,” “vampire,” “sun,” “alien spacecraft.” I thought this was a fantastic idea, and I would do one prompt a day for 500 days to keep my mind and creativity challenged.
I’m officially 197 days behind schedule.
This is typical of my thinking. I can’t just purchase something and think “this would be fun to have.” I have to turn it into an over-the-top goal to add it to a daily, weekly, or monthly regime. Otherwise, what’s the point of doing anything? Right?
I’m also behind on translating a screenplay-cum-book outline into prose. The story and plot are finished, I just need to translate the format. I promised myself one chapter a day, but this soon crumbled into one chapter every three weeks. Not good.
I maintain a stack of books, comics, and magazines to be read. Behind on that, too. My friends and family have purchased me some of the trendy adult color books “in case I’m ever bored.” Hahahahahahaha. Sorry, couldn’t help it. Sad thing is they’re pretty cool. I’ve got the Doctor Who and Sherlock books, one of the Harry Potters, and one I purchased for myself that’s an extreme mystery color-by-number. Of course, I’m working on a DIY for GeekMom later utilizing these books. I can’t just enjoy coloring for no reason, now can I?
I’ve mentioned this “buzzing bee” tendency briefly in my James May post, but since then the clutter has continued to accumulate. Not in a “hoarder” way, I promise. I try to maintain a tidy home: another distraction. I have to make sure I go through one room each month and purge, dust, straighten, and organize. I just can’t calm it down, which is why social media has not only become an outlet for me but a bit of a curse.
See, I work out of the house. This is a situation ideal for me right now because I get to be available for my family when they need me. It’s also bad because people assume that means I’m primarily a stay-at-home mom. I respect these parents greatly because I know how much work is involved, but I also have to make sure I keep up with my actual paying job as news (calendar) editor for a monthly local arts and entertainment guide. Most months, I actually have to work nearly all night for several nights in a row come deadline. I’ve been an insomniac for ages, so this fits fine, except for the occasional “wall hitting” emotional and physical crashes.
For years, the only “social media” I had was email. I checked before work in the morning and before bed. Less than an hour a day. About the time my second daughter was born, six years ago, we joined this thing called Facebook “just for family.” I only spend about a half hour a day tops on that, despite the fact I somehow have 370 friends. (I don’t know that many people, do I?)
I soon started writing some posts for a site called “IHOGeek” and started my own blogsite, both on WordPress, to keep all my posts together in one place. In about a year, I had built up several stories and started checking my “stats” (story hits) several times a day, a bit obsessively.
Next came Pinterest. I started it just to share my stories and projects. I only planned on having three boards. That’s morphed into 139 boards, 98.4 thousand pins, and 13.1 thousand followers. I’m really not sure how this one got so out of hand, but I look at the most of the time I do my late night work.
When I got picked up by GeekMom, I quit working with IHOGeek just to keep my schedule under control. Around the same time, my husband wanted to start a family site we called MinionFeeding101. I did three posts a week for the family site, of which I was getting pretty proud. Unfortunately, my husband’s schedule wasn’t conducive, so after two years of trying to build it up, he called it quits. The site is now dormant until I can get him back on board.
Still avoided Twitter. “Nope. Not doing it,” I thought. I heard comedian Ricky Gervais compare it once to the world’s largest bathroom wall, and every time I’d seen it I tended to agree. My husband was using Twitter for our MinionFeeding101 images, as well as Instagram, so I felt I didn’t need even mess with those. If I need to share an Instagram photo for GeekMom, which I haven’t done in awhile, I’ll do it through there.
I kept building up the sites. I joined DeviantArt because you can’t just draw for yourself anymore, and I share everything from GeekMom and DeviantArt on my Pinterest boards–and sometimes on Facebook. I started a Tumblr site and found I don’t like Tumblr at all. It’s the moronic slacker roommate of Social Media sites. It’s just a series of fan gifs and the occasional “I hate you if you don’t agree with my social view” memes.
I started to share my older movie-related posts on a site MoviePilot but found it similar to Tumblr in intelligence. I eventually got rid of my pages, but the process of getting my work OFF MoviePilot was an ordeal in itself.
Not long after, the wonderful uniting of the GeekMoms and GeekDads to create an even more diverse group of geeky parents occurred, and I made sure I joined them on the collaborative message board site, Slack. With so many great writers having so much to say, following that can be a little daunting. I keep up, though, even if I don’t often reply. It’s like the message board equivalent of being in a big room full of people of all walks of life having interesting conversations. You just don’t know where to jump in, or if you’re even invited into that particular circle right now.
That should be plenty to keep anyone busy and well linked (oh yeah, I joined LinkedIn primarily for my “day job” contacts). Honestly, I don’t like it. You’re not going to see me doing much on that.
And then I gave in and reluctantly joined Twitter last September.
I’ve pretty much concentrated on this one to share my work and build a reputation for sharing others’ creative achievements. I’ve amassed a few great artists and writers following me, and keep this on most of the time I’m working as well.
Does this social media attraction, sometimes distraction, sometimes borderline addiction, affect my everyday work? Most definitely! All these little social media pages and projects often weave themselves into my day, particularly when I’m bogged down with the mindless calendar duties. I need to have something on another screen in order to feel my mind is getting some stimulation. Yes, I have multiple monitors, just like the Batcave.
Without social media, my “need to keep busy” nature would fill in those gaps with more work. I tell myself that would be a good thing because that extra work would actually be productive rather than time wasting. I still have my projects lined up, and if I find myself at a time when I can just relax, I get a little jittery. I walk around the house thinking “what do I need to do; there must be something?”
I don’t have a smartphone, so I’m able to ignore this lure when I’m not working online. That’s a good thing, at least. I can walk the dog, wait for appointments, and sit at a restaurant without staring at a little flat rectangle (unless books count), but I’m not any better than anyone else here.
I check it often while I work on the computer. Who read my articles? Who liked my crafts and DIYs? Who put my artwork under their “favorites?”
Not only that but everything I do I wonder, “will this make a story?” “Do I share this one on Facebook or Twitter… or both?”
Oh sweet Mother Mary, what the heck is wrong with me?
I have to ask myself: why do I need that many people connecting with me via cyberspace, and why can’t I do anything without wondering if it needs to be swept out of my real-life world and into that social media web?
I worry at times we’re all turning into the Wall-E scenario where we live vicariously through experiences on or screens. A 2015 CNN story stated teens and tweens spent around 9 hours a day checking their social media sites, and a 2016 report from Pew Research Center said 62 percent get their news via social media.
I do tend read news sites online more, but thankfully my teen doesn’t have a cell phone. Her social media (only Pinterest and e-mail allowed right now), is an after homework activity she spends about two hours on, at the most, on a little laptop computer she uses at her desk. She often gets bored with that and reads her fantasy and manga books. At least she’s bucking the trend.
I mentioned last week in my first half of my Social Media series, ‘Grand Tour’, DriveTribe, and The Social Media Fan Frenzy, people have this “big bowl of M&Ms” access to their favorite celebrities, via social media.
As far a maintaining our own sites, and sharing our own work, it’s more like a huge, fancy, decadent buffet. There’s so much we want to try, so we’ll just try a little of everything. This is especially true if you’re a creative type. Artists, writers, photographers, and musicians find social media outlets essential for sharing their work.
Unfortunately, like a buffet, it’s really easy to pile up the samples, until you’re plate if so full you can’t possibly consume it all and not be sick.
And, I’m absolutely stuffed.
So what do I do? What can we all do? We’ll, I believe the key to maintaining a healthy diet is moderation. Don’t eliminate, but cut back what we don’t need.
This should extend to my social media use. I get art and story ideas from Pinterest and DeviantArt. I’ll keep it. Tumblr is empty calories. I’m getting rid of that one soon.
If I’m not doing my actual editing or working on a story, there’s really no need to be on these sites. I’ll continue to keep only Twitter going while I’m editing, but everything else should return to the “once in a morning and once before bed routine.”
That way, I can get on top of my reading, my DIY projects, my workouts, my book, and that continually lurking sketchbook. I think I’ll get on that book right now and fill a few pages.
But first, I need to check Twitter to see who those 12 notifications and one DM are from.
