Thoughts: Social Media

I know I'm not alone when I say that I have a love/hate relationship with social media. As a creative, who at times produces physical goods to sell, social media is a fantastic and free medium to connect with like-minded community and potential collectors. It is also a wonderful gallery of inspiring imagery and a place where friends, family and community--ones you'd probably never get to meet otherwise--get to celebrate each other's successes and joys as well as connect with and support each other amidst losses and painful times.

But how many hours a day or week do we lose ourselves mindlessly scrolling through it, not adding any value to our lives, our creativity, our souls?

I have finally come to terms with my addiction--and I feel strongly that it is an addiction for me--and have realized my need to take regular breaks away. I delete all the apps, which for me is Instagram and Youtube as I lost my Facebook password years ago, and I try to fill my days with analogue creative projects or knock off several tasks on my ever growing to-do lists.

I try not to go back on until I have new artwork to share or a need to contact someone directly. And then I often will delete again shortly afterwards.

I am always a happier person when not on social media and at the same time, I value a lot of the content I ingest when it is content I am actively seeking out. It's when something catches my eye and sends me into the downward spiral of watching one video after another on Youtube or of mindlessly scrolling through the homepage feed on instagram or the suggested reels page, that I find myself feeling a sense of hollow shame and questioning of where half my day went.

This blog is an experiment for me to see if I can find a happy medium between having a social media platform where I can share my work and interact with my community but not subject myself to situations where I know make me actively unhappy and stressed. If we have learned anything from our time during this pandemic, it is to do more of what brings us joy and less of the things that bring us stress. I find it's just not worth it!

I would love to hear your experiences, thoughts and feelings around social media. Are you an artist or creative of some sort and trying to find your audience but feel swallowed by the time-suck of social media as well? What has worked for you? What are you trying now? Tell me everything. :)