Giving In to Social Media... Sort of

My desire to stay away from that frenzied, time-sucking world of social media has weakened. Don’t get your hopes up to see me on Facebook anytime soon; I haven’t gone that soft. I have, however, given in to Twitter (@DCMarni) and, a couple of weeks ago, Instagram. I’ve been on Pinterest for a long time now and fall more in-love with it every day, but it’s less social network than entertaining reference library. I’m still uncertain about the value of these other two in my life, but we’ll see.

I admit, it has been nice to connect with people that I otherwise don’t see or talk to frequently—especially widely dispersed cousins and a few friends from various stages of my life—however brief those interactions may be. Part of me thinks that, if we were really, truly friends, we would be calling each other or texting or emailing to keep in-touch instead of relying on the lazy, semi-superficial medium of tweets and photos to track what’s happening in each other’s lives. Does that even count as “keeping in-touch?” I’m still just as likely to end up with no plans on a Saturday night as I was before.

On the other hand, if this sort of sporadic, soundbite blast-updating is how friendship is done these days, I suppose it’s necessary to overcome my inhibitions and join in, rather than face social isolation. It does feel almost voyeuristic sometimes to read about the lives of people I don’t actually talk to—and I’m not talking about celebrities here, but people I know, or knew. I can watch their kids grow up and see where they go on vacation and what they had for lunch. Conversations consist of “likes” and brief comments, a perpetual small talk of sorts that feels kind of forced but can also be fun and even boost the ego.

One thing I don’t understand about the social media phenomenon in general is how on earth people have so much to say or share, and why they think others are so interested. I frankly don’t have that much to share from day to day and even less to share that I think would interest anyone who’s not related to me. Now that I have social media accounts, I feel pressured to use them, to come up with things to share, which actually goes against my normal introverted tendencies to listen more than I talk. It’s the pressure of should and the pressure to fit in: I should be doing this because it’s what normal people do these days. I should voluntarily put out news of my activities because I live in a push-information society where that’s expected. Since signing up for Instagram, I’ve found myself taking photos expressly so I can post them, not necessarily because I think the subject matter is fascinating or because I really want to capture that moment or view for myself. And once I put this blog post up, I’ll send out the link via Twitter just for the sake of, well, sending something out via Twitter. I think that’s kind of strange.

Regardless of my internal philosophical debate on the topic, I’ve started down this social media path and hope it will be a positive journey. I’d love to connect with any and all of you on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Send me an email if you can’t find me on them. Meanwhile, the writer in me will continue to lay out my thoughts and experiences in blog posts.