As someone who grew up alongside social media, I can say that it's easy to lose yourself when online success depends not on how hard you works but on luck and the audience. On one hand, social media is a symptom of consumerism, pushing creators to match the never ending rush of competition from strangers and the world, a contest nobody wins. At the same time, the essence of social media is a tool for, supposedly, being social - to facilitate relationships - and just as we balance what we say to different people in our lives, so too do we balance different content on different accounts. It's good that you've found that balance and honed your skills in the process.
I swear that, in the beginning at least, platforms really were aiming for connection. Maybe I’ve always believed that because Tom, the founder of MySpace, literally auto-friended every new user? It sent the message that relationships were the currency. Maybe I just wasn’t in position to see it as a single lonely user, but I think you nailed it better than I did: I pulled away from social media once it was about selling me or selling to me rather than connecting.
Whether here or on my “Finsta”, I find it amusing that carving out my space was returning to the earliest form of social connection I found online: writing. Both spaces nourish that feeling of connection. Both are invaluable.
Thank you again for reading and reflecting. That has been the one thing absent for me here from that original social media arena. I will never not appreciate it.
As someone who grew up alongside social media, I can say that it's easy to lose yourself when online success depends not on how hard you works but on luck and the audience. On one hand, social media is a symptom of consumerism, pushing creators to match the never ending rush of competition from strangers and the world, a contest nobody wins. At the same time, the essence of social media is a tool for, supposedly, being social - to facilitate relationships - and just as we balance what we say to different people in our lives, so too do we balance different content on different accounts. It's good that you've found that balance and honed your skills in the process.
I swear that, in the beginning at least, platforms really were aiming for connection. Maybe I’ve always believed that because Tom, the founder of MySpace, literally auto-friended every new user? It sent the message that relationships were the currency. Maybe I just wasn’t in position to see it as a single lonely user, but I think you nailed it better than I did: I pulled away from social media once it was about selling me or selling to me rather than connecting.
Whether here or on my “Finsta”, I find it amusing that carving out my space was returning to the earliest form of social connection I found online: writing. Both spaces nourish that feeling of connection. Both are invaluable.
Thank you again for reading and reflecting. That has been the one thing absent for me here from that original social media arena. I will never not appreciate it.