Social Media aka Time Waster

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I don’t like taking pictures so let’s say I “hate” Instagram and Snapchat because that is the main aspect of their apps. I “love” Instagram because I like the funny memes and videos and Pam the bulldog. If you don’t know who Pam is, look her up on Instagram. One of the most awesome dogs in the world. I have Instagram but I have never posted anything on my account. No Snapchat period. No to Twitter as well. For one, I don’t think that you can limit this motormouth to just 140 characters. Hell, I started a blog to be able to talk endlessly. Two, would not ever join now that the current president is making a mockery out of the site. He is uncool so it makes Twitter seem uncool now. I have a LinkedIn account that doesn’t even have a picture of me.

Now to Facebook. Okay, this relationship is complicated. I have family and friends on Facebook that do not live near me. Facebook affords me the opportunity to see pictures and know what’s going on in their lives without me having to talk to them. I love and care about them but at the same time, I’m anti-social. As is most people, so don’t judged me. Lol. I like to watch videos and read uplifting, touching stories. Facebook allows me to do this all in one place without having to comb the internet. And with all the permissions you allow them just to have an account, they know what you like and give you suggestions of videos to watch. Win/lose situation. Also, this is where I see most of my news and current events. This makes me what to learn and do my own research about what is really going on.

Now to the hate. Facebook also is a place to display pics which I hate so, strike one. People put too much of their business on Facebook and get mad when others say something negative. Really?!?, strike two. Once you actually post something, you have to be available to respond if anyone makes a comment. Even though I am anti-social, I’m not mean. Ok maybe just a little. But I don’t want to ignore people’s comments, so I have to keep checking and respond in a timely manner. Yes, I know I can get notifications when people make a comment and that would reduce the checking. Except I hate receiving notifications all day, strike three. Since we struck out, here is a couple of balls. Once you comment on someone’s post, every time someone else does you have the privilege of knowing, ball one. People know when you are on Facebook and want to have side conversations with you. Noooooo, I just want to watch my videos and read my stories. Or play games. I don’t want to talk, ball two. Sherry, I don’t ever mind your side conversations though. Messenger, totally unnecessary. Yet I have not been able to bring myself to delete it. This is how I send my mom the funny or touching stories and videos.

Social media as a whole is a time waster. We spend countless hours watching videos, reading other people’s business or posting our own business. We spend time taking picture after picture just to get the right one as our profile pic. Don’t act like it’s just me. We waste so much time without even realizing it. Sometimes I just think of the other things I could be doing or could have done. Then I think about losing the flimsy connection that I have with my friends and family. What is a girl to do?

I do believe that social media has its place. For people with their own business it is a great way to advertise. Inform people of events, sales and new projects. As artist, you can display your work. Singers can go live and give people a concert which can help sell albums. And it’s basically free. Now that is a win/win. Also, with sites like LinkedIn, you can network and gain new business connections. You can post your resume and get scouted for jobs or look for jobs yourself. Some people have started businesses or their own brand using social media. Funny videos, which I watch, have made people famous and given them opportunities to display their talents on a larger scale. It does have it’s purpose.

I guess I am going to have to parent myself. Parents put restrictions on kids as far as playing with gaming systems and watching tv. I need to put restrictions on myself about visiting social media sites. Maybe something like 30 minutes to one hour a day. I’m going to give this a try starting Monday. I am not sure which site I waste more time on, but I am going to delete Instagram. I’ll miss Pam, but I don’t post anything and I use it solely as a time waster. Facebook, I won’t delete, but I will pull the plug on Messenger. And now that I am posting regularly, finally, I’ll use Facebook and LinkedIn as sites to advertise my blog. Once I stop wasting time maybe I can actually post more and by sharing on social media, I can really grow my audience. Now that is a win/win!

How do you feel about social media? Would you give it up? What would you do with all the free time? Please share your comments in the box or email me at elsims27@yahoo.com. If this is the first post you have read, to make a comment, click on the title and it will be a box at the end of my post.