Why I Hate Social Media! And You Probably Do Too But Won't Admit it! (A REVISIT)
For some reason this blog resonated well with me. Just curious...how many of you out there have actually produced meaningful business using social networking? I haven't. How many of you dread a new posting of a "friend" who has a seemingless unending update of their new listing or open house, not to mention how their farm is doing, or how many points they have in the newest game. I must even admit, that if I were to be hiring a real estate agent, it probably WOULDN"T be the one who is peppering my wall with endless information. In fact, I have probably already "hidden" you from my wall...or at least the game/event you are posting. Tweeting? I mean, come on...do we really need to have a constant update on the goings-on of your life? Do you really care what I'm doing 24/7, or am I afraid that if I don't keep up, I will have no friends and I won't be in the forefront of your mind at all times. Let's consider going back to life as it was, say five years ago...where technology was useful, where we could easily gain access to whomever we want, whenever we want without being constantly bombarded with tidbits of information... It's taking up too much of our valuable time, time that we should be spending doing more important things, like spending it with our families!
Yes...I guess it's all making me crabby! Would love to hear your thoughts...
I wrote this about 9 months ago, and Bob Stewart thought it deserved another visit. I like sharing my opinions so I can't say I disagree.
I reread it, and I don't see that my thinking has changed.
I enjoyed writing this - the reality as well as the sarcasm - and hope you find it worthy of a read, whether you agree or not. After all, we're both entitled to our opinions. I would be curious about what YOU think.
I really do see the value of social media, otherwise I wouldn't be there in spades. But there is some stuff that, quite frankly, just irks me, so I tend to ignore or avoid it.
Or poke fun at it when I can. Enjoy. Or not.
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Why I Hate Social Media! And You Probably Do Too But Won't Admit it!
Like so many I've joined all the popular social media sites, and some not so popular ones.
I've spent countless hours adding profiles, uploading photos, adding videos, and sharing personal information and I've had it. I hear there's a point to all this, but quite honestly, I have grown to hate social media.
Here's why:
THERE ARE TOO MANY SOCIAL MEDIA SITES - every time I think I am on all the right ones, another one makes an appearance, and I feel obligated to join. My spreadsheet for tracking sites, log ins, and passwords is totally beyond control and impossible to maintain. And worse, I often get invited to join a new site by someone I don't even know. I have created more avatars and screen names and passwords than anyone in their right mind ought to be doing. I'm just not inventive and it takes too much blasted time.
AM I A TWIT, a twitterer, tweeple or a tweeter? Am I tweeting or twittering? There are more darn applications and things you can do that start with Tweet or Tw. And the number of new words in our lingo as a result of one bloomin' site is enough to make an English professor commit harakiri. And who is this Mr. Tweet character? Is he a real person? And then there's Twellow, and Twellowhood, Tweetdeck and Twirl, and on and on and on. Enough of the T word. The S word comes to mind. Not the one you're thinking.
THE GUILT around not having enough followers, friends, connections or links is enough to keep me in church 7 days a week. Confession isn't even part of my religion and I feel compelled to confess my inadequacies as a participant in the social media world. Just when I think I am making headway some idiot with 1,315,719 followers wants to follow me. Now that's a blow to the ego. Perhaps I should follow all the get-a-million-followers-per-day techniques that I see out there. Then Adam and I could be on the same playing field. I couldn't keep up with it all but so what. Isn't it all about the numbers?
I FEEL ASHAMED I don't feel like sharing intimate details of my bodily functions, discussing what I am eating and where and how I feel about it, or passing along personal reflections on how wonderful life is because of the great attitude I woke up with that morning after only 2 hours of sleep even though the dog died, my kid is a druggie, and my client is suing me for a million bucks which I don't have because my mortgage is in default but that's OK because I'm working on a loan mod with BOA. I still feel great, though, because I know telling you that will inspire you to become the best you can before the end of the day. You can watch my vid about it...trust me. It'll work. DM me if you need help.
THERE ARE MORE FRIGGIN' QUOTES out there from famous people than you can possibly keep track of, or even begin to ponder and hope they will make your measly life better, which of course they won't. And if I hear one more quick way to make a million dollars using Twitter in 1 hour I'm going to barf. No doubt I needed to share that and someone will have a video I can watch that will help me cure the nausea, which of course I will then have to retweet ad nauseum so others can DM me to congratulate my new-found success, and then I can write an e-book and become famous overnight and gain billions of followers. And start my own special fan club on Facebook.
I DO NOT GET THE FRIEND THING. Why is it so many people want to be my friend? I don't want to be your friend, I don't like your avatar (I think that's what they call those ugly pictures on people's profiles), and your mindless blathering doesn't interest me one iota. But I know if I don't let you follow me or I block you I will feel extreme guilt and need to spend more time in church, which I don't have time for. And you will probably keep pinging me to follow you, or join your mindless fan club, or attend some stupid event for an idiotic cause I have never heard of and that I could care less about, which of course means I am not engaging with others on-line as I should and therefore will probably get blacklisted or have my account deleted.
I HAVE LOST MORE SLEEP than I ever imagined I could survive without.It was bad enough when I started blogging several years ago but keeping up with all the updates, tweets, RTs, DMs, link and follow requests means I have to get by on even less sleep than I did pulling all-nighters and partying in college. I thought I was beyond that. I'm sorry but I DON'T feel social at 2 in the morning when I have to get up at 6, but I seem to have no option. There's that guilt thing, again, about social media. There must be a Cure That Guilt video out there somewhere.
PARTICIPATING IN SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES ME AS PARANOID as...well, you know. I know I am going to say something that will offend someone and get sued. Or my identity will get stolen because of all the personal stuff they ask me to share in order to set up my profile that everyone in the world can see. I know someone already is stalking me...I think...or maybe I am just paranoid. But they keeping DM'img me on my phone.
Perhaps you've realized by now this is all in fun...well, mostly. Maybe you just don't get it. I guess I wouldn't be doing what I do if this all really irked me.
Or maybe it does and I just can't admit it out of guilt. Who knows?!
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