My Love/Hate Relationship With Social Media

Sometimes I feel completely bipolar in regards to social media. 

By far, social media outlets like Pinterest, various blogs, and Vimeo have been one of my biggest inspirations, creatively. (You can see some of my favorite sources of inspiration at the bottom of my page, under the tab Inspire Me.) I love that you can stumble upon something that just completely changes the way you view the world. I talked about inspiration a little bit in my Ten Most Significant post. I love that I can keep in touch with my sisters all the way in Provo (even though I'll be joining them in August!! AHH) and see what everyone is up to. I love following florists and New Yorkers on Instagram, and comedians like Mindy Kaling on Twitter. I love that people can so easily create something that never existed before or learn something new from someone they look up to or have never even met. I love that on a lot of blogs, you can see someone's artistic evolution; their journey to where they are now. That is one of my favorite parts of social media; it gives me hope for my future. ;)

Most of all, I love this little blog of mine. I realize that it's mostly my family that reads it ---- they're so loyal. ;) But more than anything, I write this for me. I love that when I see this little header and navigation bar I created, this little "corner of the internet" that I designed and is mine to curate, there's this little surge of pride that swells in my chest. When I click on that "Archive" button, it takes me to a journey. My journey. A lot of times, I (mentally and/or physically) lie on the floor (it's a girl thing) and reevaluate. I make the mistake FDR tries to prevent every time ("comparison is the thief of joy") and sometimes am annoyed or upset that this or that class/project/thing didn't work out; I wonder "how do they even do that?"; my skills feel pretty inadequate. But then I look at my little archive. I scroll down, to the bottom, and feel better. I think to myself how laughable some [all] of those photos are, but I will never delete them. They are part of my journey and they show how much I have grown, learned, and evolved. And maybe, someday they'll inspire someone else. That would be so gratifying. There was once a time when I didn't know anything, and I mean anything about photography, videography, you name it. But I wanted to. Oh, I wanted to! So, I picked up a book and I taught myself.

I love that there are platforms that constantly change ---- the internet and social media literally provide a never-ending stream of new inspiration. There is always something new to discover; there is always something that will inspire me to learn a new skill. There is always something that will make you think that you could do something you never thought you could, after all.

BUT.

Sometimes I hate social media. Sometime's it is the worst. I probably think about deleting my Facebook more than once a week. There is so much complaining that goes on. And oversharing. Oh, the oversharing. Sometimes, I think people forget about boundaries on social media. Sometimes, it's disappointing that because social media is so visual, there's a huge focus on being materialistic. These things are enough to make me want to get rid of it, but I'm torn because of all the reasons above. I think people are so inspiring, and I love to keep in touch with family and friends, but I find the rest of it so disenchanting.

I guess that it's all about balance.

During the month of February, I started obsessively checking my email, for a letter from BYU, of course! I can relax now, because I got in yesterday! Yay! But I'm kind of tired of social media, and I think it's time to make a few changes. I'm not addicted to my phone, not even close! There's no need to worry. ;) I have just been wanting to make a few changes and I've heard some really good ideas lately and thought I would share. Want to join me?

1 // I'm going to find my alarm clock and when I do, I'm going to start charging my phone downstairs. I know this will make a huge difference. Huge.

2 // I'm going to charge my computer downstairs with my phone. Mostly I'm going to just try to use electronics less overall, but especially in my bedroom/when I should be sleeping.

3 // I'm going to try not to use my phone after 10. Basically I should be letting my mind wind down at night. And I'm not. I already have insomnia a lot, and I'm sure this isn't helping. When we were little and couldn't sleep, my Dad would recommend that we get a glass of milk and read until we were tired. It definitely always worked. Read instead!

4 // I'm going to keep my phone in my [locked, as always] locker during school. I usually read in class when I'm free anyway, but I think it'd be a good break to simply not use it at all, on purpose.

5 // Finally, I'm going to stop using my phone on Sundays. Maybe with the exception of The Oscars tomorrow, though. Baby steps. ;)

What are your thoughts on social media? It's a fickle thing, that's for sure.