My recent post on E/N blogging led to a realization: posting on social media will be something I do for myself, instead of doing it for others.
When Facebook came out when I was 16 I posted quite a lot on social media. 5 years later I found it very embarassing to read back through those posts and I deleted everything, and since then I have been been holding back on social media posting and deleting my accounts several times.
In the meantime I also used social media as a marketing tool, creating very specific accounts tailored to a particular niche of content to drive traffic to websites. This approach to social media broke my relationship with it, and it became something you do to gain a certain response from others. I think this is the case for many people. Whether it is getting as much as possible likes, or getting people to click on an affiliate link, your content is always shaped by your anticipation of the audience’s reaction.
Starting this blog has been a breakthrough for me. Especially when I gave up on my tech niche and just started writing about everything that interests me, it became a huge enrichment to my life, and I’m going to extend this to social media as well.
The thing is, I’ve always been very bad at taking pictures and storing them. I have tons of great experiences and memories stored in my mind, but I sometimes wish that I took more pictures of these adventures. Because I was lucky enough to have grown up in an an age without smartphones, there still is an inherent reluctance towards that whole culture. There is an irritation when I see people flipping out their phones when their meals get served in a restaurant, and I feel socially awkward to take my phone out in public to take pictures of things.
Now I’m changing this: I’m going to take more pictures of the things I experience and post them on social media. Not because I want to impress others, but because I want to record the things I’m doing so I can enjoy them again at a later time. I arrived at this desire because I find it very enjoyable to scroll through my own blog and see the progression I’ve made over time, and the things I decided to share. And I want to extend this experience to pictures as well. So I’m going to post more on Instagram and Tumblr and write short travel logs of the places I visit and the things I experience, so I can revisit them later and find pleasure therein.
I’m basically using these services to my own needs and completely disregard any audience. But if anybody finds enjoyment in seeing the things I put online, that would be a great thing.
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