Social Media Working Against Me

As I'm sure every one knows, I love Social Media. I am constantly connected to Facebook or Foursquare or Twitter. I share quite a bit. I don't consider myself an oversharer, but I do update my "friends" and followers often. I see this as one of the points of Social Media.

I never ask myself, "Who cares about that, chaz??"

But some times my status updates and tweets and check-ins work against me. Every one knows everything about me. If I go to a get-together or a family function, inevitably the conversation turns to "so... what have you been up to?" And people talk about their children or work or school or the relationship they just got out of. Until they get to me.

"Oh, I know what YOU've been up to... I'm always reading your facebook status changes!"

And then everyone has a little laugh about how much I share my life with "the world." Which isn't really true, but I put up with it and smile along.

We won't get into the fact that most of my Facebook "friends" or Twitter followers don't comment on my updates, they just stalk my feed to see what I've been up to or what witty thing I have to say.

(I once heard second hand that a friend of mine wakes up every Monday just to see how many/which adjectives I will use to describe how much I dislike Mondays.)

Because I share so much on Social Media, I am cut off when it comes to explaining what I've been up to lately. I don't get to take place in that conversation.

So what is the solution? Should I stop sharing so much? Should I block my family and friends from seeing my updates? Should I stop going to get-togethers?

I don't see any of those as a possibility. At the moment.

I am a guy who enjoys talking and conversating, and Social Media is working against me. Or maybe I am working against me. After all, no one is forcing me to tweet or update my status. When I post something, I'm not thinking about talking about it later at a party. I'm just thinking about what is happening right now. And that, I think, is one of the points of Social Media: share what you're thinking at the moment.

But I always have more to say. If given the chance, I can always expand on my tweets and status updates.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

Maybe Blogging is Too Much?

Do I spend too much time online?

I have a Facebook account and a Twitter account.

Is that too much?

I realize I will never meet most of my "friends" and "followers" in real life.

I'm not in denial about that.

I'm not even under the impression that most people in Facebook or Twitter pay attention to what I say/type. But I do enjoy the outlet of status updates and link sharing and conversations in 140 characters at a time.

But nothing on my smart phone or iPod Touch or computer compares to a real live conversation.

Seriously.

Am I right?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Entry Nine

This blogging thing is hard, sometimes.

I told myself that I would at least attempt to put up one a day this year. I'm not exactly sure why I decided that. Maybe it's so that I can "keep the creative juices flowing" or something equally creepy sounding. Or Maybe it's so that I can have something to show for myself. I feel like the last year has been a blur. I really don't remember much other than losing my job. Did I accomplish anything? I'm not sure.

If you were to take a piece of paper and list every year you have been alive on the left side and then put one word representing that year on the right, what word would describe 2010? What did you do last year? What about 1995? 2003? It's hard, yes? Think of the one thing you did that defines that year. A trip you took. A person you met. A concert you attended.

But getting back to blogging.
Why am I doing this? Why does anyone do this? Why do people do anything on the internet? Status updates and tweets and blogs and picture posting... it's all, well, boring... am I right? The question "why bother?" come up a lot while wandering through the internet.

A fan site based on the Aaron Spelling show "Charmed"? Really?
A Facebook status about what your child just said? Who cares?
A tweet explaining what your dream? How interesting!

And that's not to say I am not guilty of some of these boring, useless, and ridiculous activities. I share asinine trivia and liberal political rants and blogs that no one cares about or will read. But I do it anyway.

That's what the internet is for! I'm not going to scribble away in a journal like I did when I was a teenager. I'm going to blog. And maybe this is not for you.

I told myself that I would blog at least once a day this year and I'm still not exactly sure why.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5