For the last week I’ve stayed off of social media, namely Polymaths.social, the Fediverse instance I run.
This week has also marked the first week of a new semester of university, and I’ve been doing my best to fix my sleep schedule, successfully getting up at 7:00 each morning.
With all this taken together, I’ve begun to wonder… why exactly do I use social media?
some background
In the last six months, a major theme for me has been adding intentionality to the things I use and how I spend my time. For example, instead of taking notes on my laptop, I now use a fountain pen and a nice notebook, which helps me stay focused and enjoy the process more.
Last semester, I focused this effort on my task management systems, to help myself stay organized. This semester, I’m trying to be more intentional about separating work from play and planning my time.
my relationship with social media
To begin, I should note that I’ve never been very deep into traditional social media. The furthest I got was a Twitter account I made for a Media Literacy course in high school which stuck around with intermittent posts for a few months.
Then I discovered Mastodon and, by extension, the Fediverse. I’ve made friends, learned a lot, and now run an instance.
I’ve seen some other bloggers who stay out of social media altogether, and while I definitely respect that, I don’t think it’s where I want to be. I have a place on the Fediverse and it’s a place I enjoy.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worth reevaluating why I use the Fediverse and how much time it receives.
the message in mediums
One idea that’s stuck with me recently in my Communication courses (that’s my field of study, for those not in the know) is Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” concept. To put it into relevant terms to this conversation, it’s the idea that different mediums and places to communicate tend to lend themselves to different types of messages and ways of interacting.
A story told around a camp fire is very different from an anecdote over lunch with coworkers. And, to extend the idea, social media has certain ways of thinking it fosters and certain purposes it’s best for.
what social media is not good at
First, let’s start with the downsides of social media.
- It conditions my brain towards short-form content. The more I’m on social media, the shorter my attention span seems to be. Short-form expression of ideas definitely has a place, but I believe it needs to be balanced with more thorough explorations of ideas.
- It is (almost) completely ephemeral. Meaning, few people are going to remember exactly what I posted a week, a month, or a year down the road. People might aggregate a larger idea over time, but as a general rule anything I post is expected to be consumed at a very specific point in time.
- It’s not suited to deep discussion. This point is a little debatable, but I’ve come to the belief (after observing very many endless threads) that meaningful discussion and collaboration best takes place in other mediums that are more tailored to the task at hand.
- It puts me in an always-online mentality. I’ve been trying to grow out of the mindset that I always need to be connected to everything at all times, and social media doesn’t help, there.
- And, of course, it can be extremely distracting. Combine being always-online with the breakdown of attention spans and you’ve got a powerful tool for avoiding things that need to get done.
what social media is good at
Okay, but the news isn’t all bad. As I said, social media definitely has a place for me, I just need to figure out what that place is. What are the medium’s strengths?
As I see it, social media is most adept at forming and maintaining connections with people. When I make a cool thing, that thing can quickly spread and put me in contact with cool people who like cool things! Similarly, when I want to find out what’s happening in other people’s lives, I can easily do that.
That is what I want social media to be for me. I want to meet cool people and keep up with my friends.
steps I want to take
Now that I know what the goal is, I can start making a plan on how to achieve the goal without being bogged down by the negative sides of social media.
- I will constrain my perusal of social media to certain times. I do not need to be “always-online”, and an intentional, regular look through feeds is far better for my mental health and attention span than hopping on whenever I’m bored.
- I will find ways to only see what matters to me. This may mean I unfollow some people. It almost certainly means I need to figure out how to take advantage of lists rather than wrangling a giant unified feed.
- Finally, I will think more about what I post. In this week without posting every single thought publicly, I’ve realized I really don’t need to. A million strangers don’t need to know every detail of my life. And with the time I save, I can write more here on my blog.
I don’t plan to disappear from social media, not at all. My relationship with it will be changing, though, and I’ll do my best to change it for the better.
conclusion
I know this is a topic very many people are considering right now, and I’m sure you have ideas.
Now, normally below articles I have a link to reply on social media in addition to a link to my email address, but this time, how about I leave that out? We’re talking about constraining social media, so I would be very pleased if you’d consider sending me an email instead.
My contact info is below, I look forward to hearing from you.
