Social Media is Controlling My Life. Bastard! Or Maybe Not...
I've read so many posts over the last year or two, from bloggers, journalists and other people in the media, all talking about how social media is controlling our lives, or how social media has taken over their day to the detriment of their life. They talk about how they don't like this social media platform or that one and blame it for taking them away from 'real' social life and being 'in the moment'.
I've had this post brewing for a while now but I've held back on writing it as I know my opinion may not be a popular one and I've struggled to get the words right. But fuck it, I just have to say this.
I think social media can only control your life if YOU let it. Note when I say 'you' I don't mean you the reader specifically, but you as a general term for people in general.
When it comes to social media, I am ultimately responsible for the way I use it and the way in which I allow it to impact my life. Personally I think that if a person thinks that social media is controlling their lives its because they are allowing it to.
Nobody holds a gun to their head and forces them to log on to facebook and spend hours upon hours there. Nobody pins them down until they've read all the tweets and come up with their own witty 140-character-or-less retorts. Just because they see it, doesn't mean they have to photograph it and spend hours editing and uploading it to Instagram.
Like anything in life, moderation is the key. There is such a thing as too much alcohol, too much crap food, and too much time spent on social media. Although there will never be such a thing as too much chocolate. Am I right?!
I don't spend ridiculous amounts of time on social media. I have certain times of the day that I go on facebook and just have a browse through my newsfeed, for everything else I have notifications set up for a group of people and blogs that I like to be updated about and those notifications go to my phone. So when I have a spare 5 minutes I can go on and read and respond to those people that I really care about and I'm not spending hours upon hours on there.
I don't go on twitter very often. I have automatic tweets from my facebook page and when blog posts go live, but the only time I just go on twitter without a purpose (say to share mine or another bloggers post or attend a twitter party) is when I really have nothing better to do, like when I'm waiting in a line somewhere, or if Dave is on arvo shift and I have the evening to myself on a Friday and I feel like spending a few hours just hanging out there.
It's not that I don't like twitter, it's just that I know that once I log on I will be on there for many hours. And sometimes that is exactly what I want to do. But sometimes there are so many other things I would rather be doing. Like reading. Or catching up on tv shows.
I take a shitload of photos but I don't post heaps to Instagram, and when I do, it can be hours or days after I've taken them, as I always forget to load them when I am actually out and about, because, you know, I'm enjoying being out and about too much. Plus, I like to be able to sit and scroll through other people's pics and spend a bit of time editing my own pics, so I use Instagram when I have time and it's not going to enroach on another important aspect of my life, like my husband or my daughter.
If you don't like Instagram because it takes you away from what you are doing at the time because you are busy editing and uploading your photos, then don't do it. Instagram doesn't tell you to download every photo-editing app there is and then spend half an hour to an hour editing and processing an image and then uploading it. You choose to do that. And you don't have to do it. Nothing bad will happen if you take a photo and then upload it later, or heaven forbid you upload a photo that hasn't gone through a million filters before being uploaded.
I've heard friends talk about closing their facebook accounts because they are over the drama or they don't like it controlling their life. I do not understand having drama on facebook. I really don't. To me, facebook is about fun, not being too serious, sharing pictures and staying in touch with family and friends who live too far away to see you on a regular basis. It's not for playing out personal dramas or relationship problems, and if you do that then it's your fault, not facebooks.
What do you think? Am I being harsh? Do you think social media can control our lives without us letting it? Or is it up to us to make sure we use it in moderation and stop blaming the social media itself.
Today is Tuesday, and as I always do on Tuesday, I Blog! Head on over to Essentially Jess and check out all the other awesome peeps who blog on Tuesdays too. I promise it won't control your life. Well, it might control your Tuesday, but only if you let it!
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| The place where I found this image has a really interesting article from a girl about how she took control of her social media usage, I highly recommend checking it out here. |
I think social media can only control your life if YOU let it. Note when I say 'you' I don't mean you the reader specifically, but you as a general term for people in general.
When it comes to social media, I am ultimately responsible for the way I use it and the way in which I allow it to impact my life. Personally I think that if a person thinks that social media is controlling their lives its because they are allowing it to.
Nobody holds a gun to their head and forces them to log on to facebook and spend hours upon hours there. Nobody pins them down until they've read all the tweets and come up with their own witty 140-character-or-less retorts. Just because they see it, doesn't mean they have to photograph it and spend hours editing and uploading it to Instagram.
Like anything in life, moderation is the key. There is such a thing as too much alcohol, too much crap food, and too much time spent on social media. Although there will never be such a thing as too much chocolate. Am I right?!
I don't spend ridiculous amounts of time on social media. I have certain times of the day that I go on facebook and just have a browse through my newsfeed, for everything else I have notifications set up for a group of people and blogs that I like to be updated about and those notifications go to my phone. So when I have a spare 5 minutes I can go on and read and respond to those people that I really care about and I'm not spending hours upon hours on there.
I don't go on twitter very often. I have automatic tweets from my facebook page and when blog posts go live, but the only time I just go on twitter without a purpose (say to share mine or another bloggers post or attend a twitter party) is when I really have nothing better to do, like when I'm waiting in a line somewhere, or if Dave is on arvo shift and I have the evening to myself on a Friday and I feel like spending a few hours just hanging out there.
It's not that I don't like twitter, it's just that I know that once I log on I will be on there for many hours. And sometimes that is exactly what I want to do. But sometimes there are so many other things I would rather be doing. Like reading. Or catching up on tv shows.
I take a shitload of photos but I don't post heaps to Instagram, and when I do, it can be hours or days after I've taken them, as I always forget to load them when I am actually out and about, because, you know, I'm enjoying being out and about too much. Plus, I like to be able to sit and scroll through other people's pics and spend a bit of time editing my own pics, so I use Instagram when I have time and it's not going to enroach on another important aspect of my life, like my husband or my daughter.
If you don't like Instagram because it takes you away from what you are doing at the time because you are busy editing and uploading your photos, then don't do it. Instagram doesn't tell you to download every photo-editing app there is and then spend half an hour to an hour editing and processing an image and then uploading it. You choose to do that. And you don't have to do it. Nothing bad will happen if you take a photo and then upload it later, or heaven forbid you upload a photo that hasn't gone through a million filters before being uploaded.
I've heard friends talk about closing their facebook accounts because they are over the drama or they don't like it controlling their life. I do not understand having drama on facebook. I really don't. To me, facebook is about fun, not being too serious, sharing pictures and staying in touch with family and friends who live too far away to see you on a regular basis. It's not for playing out personal dramas or relationship problems, and if you do that then it's your fault, not facebooks.
What do you think? Am I being harsh? Do you think social media can control our lives without us letting it? Or is it up to us to make sure we use it in moderation and stop blaming the social media itself.
Today is Tuesday, and as I always do on Tuesday, I Blog! Head on over to Essentially Jess and check out all the other awesome peeps who blog on Tuesdays too. I promise it won't control your life. Well, it might control your Tuesday, but only if you let it!
Comments
Ai @ Sakura Haruka
But just like with food and alcohol ... yes, it's all there are yes there's too much but don't be a bloody victim.
And as for how much time I use it, that is up to me, and I need to be aware of that. FB doesn't actually make my decisions for me (not yet anyway. Maybe in an update or two ;))
I too think there is always room for improvement and its something I am always taking stock of, especially with regards to how much it might take me away from Mia.
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