When it comes to social media, I am addicted. Or at
least I was. I don’t really do Facebook, unless I have to share news about my
books, or something I am working on. Twitter not so much either. Pinterest;
Sure, for research. Especially about items, or lifestyles, I will never be able
to afford. Instagram is my social media of choice at the moment. You can say so
much with just a picture, and a short description bellow, or not. Easy, peasy.
And of course, I am getting back to blogging.
But I have come to really hate social media. 20th of
June my Chef sister and I were in a car accident, on our way to make a
delivery. We are okay. We both have whiplash, and of course our bodies hurt,
and we are a bit black and blue. But what really bothered me, was that after we
pushed away the airbags, and I was checking on my sister, I saw people crowd
around the broken up car to take photos. Of the car, of us . . . It was perverse.
Such a violation of privacy. My sister was unconscious for a while, and people
were taking photos, and making videos, as I tried to wake her, and just find
out how badly she was hurt. Nobody called for help, or the police. They just stood
there. I had to call for help myself, even though I asked for someone to call
the police.
Have we as people become so desensitized to trauma, or
human life, and suffering that we just don’t care about anything, or anyone
else anymore? Is privacy, and compassion truly a thing of the past?
Not for me. I still try to be a descent person. I
don’t live my life through a lens. I sometimes share certain aspects of my
life, yes, but I decide which, and it’s about my author self. I don’t have any
social media profiles for myself (personally), but the writer part of me does.
I don’t do it for attention, even though I do get an adrenaline rush every time
someone leaves a comment, or likes something I said (wrote).
I started using various social media platforms to
spread word of my writing, and book. For business purposes (wink-wink) However,
these days I don’t have much authorly news to share, so I mostly read what
others are posting, and sharing. Cute cat/ dog videos. Nice quotes. The
funnier, the better. Also, articles about archaeological finds . . . Stuff like
that.
But I do fear that I have become so addicted to those
daily funnies, that I will become one of those people that forget to be human.
Who walk around texting without looking up, or to see where they are going.
I have wanted to close my Facebook account many times,
but I have made a few fellow South African friends that want to know about when
I am publishing again, wanting to buy the next book, and so forth. Facebook is
their social media of choice. So I don’t want to lose the small audience I have
built there.
Aside for blogging, I’m angry at social media. I will
look, but not participate for a while.
How do you feel about social media?
