I need to use this more

[vampyresheep]

I’ve not posted on here for a while. It seemed fairly futile, as it seems nobody bothers reading anything unless it’s a link to a “news” article or they just want to complain about something. Aware of the irony, that I am complaining about the complaining! :-)
It seems I’m not alone in feeling disillusioned, stressed and frustrated by Facebook; the conversation has come up a few times over the past couple of days. FB has its benefits, some of the forums I am on (outdoor swimming, Sadgoth WGT forum etc) are fantastic and I don’t want to break contact with those valuable resources – resources of information and camaraderie. FB has made the world smaller, keeping in touch with friends who have moved further away and staying in touch with those whom I only get to see at certain events. But on the other hand, when you start dreading notifications after making an innocuous comment on a friend’s post or spend the whole day dwelling on a vicious comment made by a friend ….. is it really worth that angst?

I love reading other people’s blog posts. Posts with writing, photos, links to resources, reviews. Most of my Mexico holiday planning has come from reading blog posts, as has so many sewing tips and inspirations. And I want to keep that going. Increasingly feeling I should be pooling my online energies into constructive, positive blog posts, as there is so much misery in the world these days – not closing myself off to it, just not wanting to let the negativity and pain make me into a different person, as I see so much of that happen to others. Negativity begets negativity.
However, at the moment it feels like I am shouting into a void on here, even when I link to posts on FB, it is so obvious that those “likes” have not read them. Maybe if more of us who are unhappy with the direction social media is taking put a concerted effort into moving away, turning to other online resources (or even, shock horror, real-life social activity!), and just let the rest argue and fight their way to the bottom.

So if stick to this resolve, there may well be more posts about sewing, holidays and social activities on here! I am going to try not to make it a “whinge corner” as I used to use LJ for in the past, as there are many other places for that.

Comments

[motodraconis]

I post on both DW and LJ. It's hard to give up LJ in spite of its dodgy side as there seems to be more activity there.

Maybe crosspost facebook and DW? For the more chunky posts at least. I feel it's too easy to lose posts made on facebook, which is no bad thing for the banal stuff, but if you post something more meaty - like a record of your travels, or a sewing diary, it's so much easier to re-read and reminisce on a blog, and find useful or nostalgic posts.

[vampyresheep]

Ironically, fallen at the first hurdle! My new phone doesn't seem to like the SmugMug app - I had developed a routine on my old phone where I uploaded all my photos to a date-arranged folder structure, which could then easily be linked to blogs.

I definately prefer to keep track on my entries on DW/LJ but it is frustrating when nobody is interested in reading them. Much as I was grumbling about my Stockholm trip, I did take some photos there that I was really proud of, posted them here and linked on FB ..... tumbleweed. Chatting to a friend about this, I was told that people in general aren't interested in photos unless there are other people in them - we have developed into a society with the attention span of a flea!

[robot_mel]

Blogs were so much better. I was chatting with Bill and he said how you couldn't just post one sentence there! I mean I do remember there were an awful lot of intenet quizes on LJ in the past too. But you could write more, and have proper conversations. Hopefully at least a few of us can go back to a more civilised way of communicating.

[vampyresheep]

there were arguements on LJ too of course, but I don't remember them being quite so dismissive and insulting. A lot of this is down to a sign of the times, people are forgetting how to be decent to others online but I think the format of social media helps to contribute to that. If structured sentences and adult conversation are discouraged, then civilised behaviour seems less relevant too.

[robot_mel]

I remember a couple misunderstandings, but I don't remember there being so much hostility and superiority from other people. I was just reading about how the internet has degraded in relation to ready player one, and how anomity was supposed to have enabled freedom but it just made people free to be jerks. Ironically more so since people went on with their real names.

[vampyresheep]

yes, the irony isn't lost on me about all the fuss about using real names to protect from that kind of thing. YouTube and the like have some pretty vicious trolling too but somehow my YouTube channel is pretty immune from that.