I fucking HATE social media.
But I need social media. I will stay on social media – but it’s not going to be social…
I appreciate social media for the things it’s brought me. Clients, money, reach, audience, expression – and friends.
But in examining the things that social media brings me, it’s super-apparent that the clients, money, reach, audience and expression… I CAN DO THAT ANYWHERE. I can do it on platforms that I own and operate, thus taking off the gloves of TOS, and without the pressure of “the relationship economy…”
As to the friends (the only thing on my list that social media is actually better at…) I can’t handle that many “friends.” Nobody can, and I think it’s kind of fucking with ALL of us – whether or not we want to admit it.
Attempting to treat 100 people as friends is almost impossible. Think about the effort it takes to REALLY be friends. You couldn’t have 100 real friends.
Let alone a thousand. Let alone 10 thousand.
You can’t do it – and knowing myself and how I operate optimally, I sure as shit can’t.
I have plenty of friends. I’ve met some absolutely wonderful folks through social media, and many of them are here. I don’t need to be on Facebook (especially) to be with my friends. We’re friends – we’ll figure out ways to hang out.
To the other folks out there, you’re welcome to become a friend. I can’t promise we’ll be besties for lyfe – but I can promise that I’ll give you every chance to be my friend and vice-versa.
From here on out, I’ll be using social media as a business platform and absolutely nothing else. I’ll hang out with my friends in the places where we decide we want to hang out. If I gain more real friends, great. If I don’t, I’ve got enough and they keep me well fed and happy.
I’ll invite more people to ARTPROLE, and I hope they join and we can have some fun and figure out if we’re compatible enough to be friends in the truest sense. If not – hell – at least we have some fun and we can part as non-combative acquaintances.
The rest of my social media will be what it is – media. The social aspect of it, for me, is a stone drag and always has been. I thrive in smaller groups who are tighter and more aligned (isn’t that what marketers tell us to do? I’m getting sidetracked.) It’s too much. It harms my real (earthly) relationships by exhausting my quota of peopling.
That stops. It’s stopped.
When I create and share – I am alive. When I get pulled into the “relationship economy” and it all becomes words and talk and posts and engagement and soft-soaping and baby-kissing and hand-shaking, I die a little.
So, thank you for reading this. Thank you for being a participant. Thank you for being here and thank you so much for your time and attention. To those that are my friends, thank you the mostest. I look forward to hanging out more, creating more, laughing more and having the best fucking time ever.
I plan on doing a lot more long-form writing, now that I’m leaving the staccato universe of “that” platform. Next up, I’ll get into documenting the ways that social media are changing our world for the good and the bad. (Ok – mostly bad. You know how much I love to complain.)
Stay tuned or don’t. I’m doing this for myself and my friends. Hope you’re one. If you’re not – that’s cool, too. Have fun. See you around.
Peace,
Jimbo™
