It's craziness. It's just craziness.
The more apps people use, the more I stopped seeing eyes when I wanted to talk to someone and instead faces set aglow by screen light. had any positive use: as in, if it were never invented, we might actually engage with other people in more healthy ways. Who needs more than email and instant messaging? I've refrained from all that stuff for so long, though I have this blog, (which very few people read, I'll remind you... You, just you). FB is okay, although it is also cumbersome at times.
I have only had a few Gmail accounts and FB for several years. I didn't know how I could possibly keep track of anything else... My head would be spinning, I thought...
Oh, and it did.
You see, I did end up trying out Twitter, and Instagram, in an attempt to understand these people around me, who barely put their smartphones down. (Snapchat just scares me. Please, I just can't... I can't..). Anyway, the purpose and appeal of the apps alluded me, but I decided I should investigate.
Aaaaaaa, it was insanity. What the hang?! Let me out!
I resurfaced from the tide of 0s and 1s. I got away. I deleted the accounts for both T and I, within a few days of engaging in the activity each one required. I commented on pictures. I retweeted and tweeted. It was terrifying. Twitter, was just a mess from the very first log in. I found myself talking to strangers about what is the best substitute for soymilk in a healthy smoothie? I wanted to log out and get away from the madness. I couldn't stop, though. I ended up so frustrated by rapid-fire-rejections of Almond milk, that I suggested human breast milk. That was a turn that I wasn't prepared for. "Just use freaking Almond milk, you know?" I couldn't help but reply to rejections of Almond milk because of its "trendiness." That's why I mentioned breast milk, and because who wouldn't just drink almond milk! Yet, then I was being told that breast milk wouldn't be economical. And I was defending what "we" were capable of: I meant the female ability to make copious amounts when necessary, not that we would ever pimp out our boobs for smoothie stores.
Yes.
I'd lost control of that conversation.
Get me out of here, I thought. I had to remind myself that I was speaking to someone who didn't know me, wouldn't know me, and would not remember our twitter exchange about human mammary glands.
Yes, I still felt exposed.
Whew.
Delete that account.
I could now confirm the time suck these apps were.
I don't have a formal job right now, and I could barely keep track of all of that craziness. How can anyone with a family, or who is employed full time maintain multiple online statuses? I've even tried getting the heck off Facebook, a few times, but that never works out so well. People think I've blocked them, or I'm dead, or people tagged in pictures I had posted suddenly don't get to have those photos in their album... or my comments on their photos are suddenly gone, so it looks like they had a conversation with themselves, and that's just awkward.
And I get it. I've had that happen to me, the friend deleting her account, and her comments were deleted too. It was awkward. In that one example was under a photo Sam posted of my son and I pretending to surf on a boogie board on the beach a few summers ago. I'm in a bikini. My friend commented: "Holy Abs, Joanna!" Then after I responded she said, "You're amazing. You always look amazing." However, when she deactivated her FB account, her comments weren't just grayed out, they were gone.
I don't usually look at photos of myself, so it was quite a while before I came across that picture again, and oh my, it looked like I was just commenting on my own body: "They look more pronounced than they are. I don't have a crazy six pack or anything," then, "No, you're amazing, lady." You see how that's a bit weird to read those comments, written by myself, under a photo of me, which clearly seem to be stating I think my abs are worth pointing out, then I'm telling myself I'm amazing in third person. Oh.
Yeah. Luckily most of these social media sites are for individuals' personal egos. If one has accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, who really is most closely paying attention to what that person is saying most of the time. It's them. They are the ones who are paying the most attention. I mean, really: It's personal time, (so much time), spent by individuals... On their self-image.
Social media sites are encouraging (or more frighteningly not) people to consider how to phrase something, or think about what profile picture speaks to their mood or personality/yet also makes them look attractive at the same time? I mean... It's really a lot of work to be charming in social media. Charming in every way. Every way charming.
Look how clever I am in only 140 characters.
