“You Use Social Media Too Much” So What!?

One thing I’ve always had to deal with, if you can call it that, is having people tell me I use social media too much. Considering at work I can rarely use my phone because being on Instagram whilst simultaneously telling my students they can’t be on Instagram won’t really run with my managers and then doing things like go to the gym, meet up with friends; blog; read, etc … I do not feel like I am on social media ‘too much’ at all.
I’m not a recluse. I’m as popular as any guy who publicly announces to the neighbourhood that he’s won the lottery. I’m ALWAYS out and about. Yes I can identify that I am one of those people who always has my phone in my hand but for the most part I’m literally doing nothing on it. I sometimes wish I could throw my phone in my bag for a day but that’s just me, I like having it on me. It’s the boyfriend I’ve never had.

People forget that we all have preferred methods of social media. Some people love Facebook but can’t work out how to send a tweet. For others it may be the other way round. I fail to see the point someone is making when they tell me I tweet a lot when their Facebook is full of status updates and photo albums. Do I tweet a lot? Or do I just tweet more than you do? Riddle me that motherfucker.

I’ve always said that I enjoy twitter more when I’m interacting with people I don’t actually know. The reason for this is because ever since the day I signed up, I knew I could be the real ‘me’. To this day people I know still can’t comprehend that I write. They know me as a sports grad who listens to hip hop music and wears tracksuits and has never really had a successful relationship. When I admitted to myself that writing was my passion and I wanted to one day make it my pay check, I had to acknowledge the fact that people who really knew me will read my stuff. I don’t know why but it’s always more daunting knowing someone next door is reading your material as opposed to someone you’ve not met before.

It’s usually the people that know me who hardly use Twitter that are the ones who look at my timeline and see it as a foreign language. But why is that an issue? Why can’t they identify that it appears I tweet all day long because they only follow 3 people therefore all they’re going to see are those 3 people’s tweets? It’s not that complicated to understand. Besides, I can tweet sporadically throughout the day then not again for 2 days – It’s not a hobby that I am compromising anything for. I am not missing out. I’m not risking a chance at something because I’m too busy tweeting.

We’ve all grown up presented with social media the same way. Treating it like a new toy at Christmas. We weren’t born into it like today’s generation. I was just like everyone else as a child – playing man hunt LOL jk I’m not that much of a tomboy, riding bikes and making our own fun. I refrained from Facebook until the day I realised I was the only one without it. Whether or not you can say I caved under pressure, I’m not sure, but I didn’t see a problem dabbling in what everyone else was dabbling in at the time when I was 17.

There are always going to be people who are more active on social media networks than others but not many people look to why that is. Take my new ‘career path’ for instance. I want to be a successful blogger. How in God’s name am I going to make that dream come true if I never network with people over social media?! How am I going to make a presence online if I am not actively engaging with anyone to grab their attention or not being consistent enough for people to return to my page and see what I’m up to?

With everything online and digital you simply cannot rely on making yourself known by word of mouth or having a print in the newspaper. Of course newspapers are still considered to be one of the largest sources of information BUT how often do you read about someone in a newspaper then search for more information in a library or in a music store? Never!? Not me anyway. You go online. You check to see whether they have a Twitter or a Soundcloud account if they are a musician for example. How far would these people get in their career if you didn’t do that? How far would these people get if you did do that but they weren’t engaging with anyone? Most artists use platforms such as Twitter as their main source of engagement so of course their tweet count is going to be high and of course they’re going to need to dedicate some time to the social account.

So many jobs are social media related nowadays and it’s such a great thing. People are getting paid to do what we’re all doing in our free time. It’s become a vital part of what companies do. Considering social media is deemed a ‘young’ mellenial thing, there aren’t many professionals with years of experience. That in itself is a huge benefit to job seekers as they are going into industries knowing more about a subject than their employers.

Some people follow me yet don’t particularly like what I Tweet about or share from others. Unbeknown to them apart from them being fucking annoying, I’m playing a game and I’m winning (because I win everything). I’m conversing with people who have 1-10 thousand followers. I want to be noticed and make my blog popular, so surely I am doing absolutely the right thing by making friends with these people? People who not only support what I do but are able to help me in my quest to broaden my audience by sharing my posts or things I have said. Not only this, but these people are hilarious and they share my somewhat ill taste in comedy. Obviously if that’s not something that interests a person then they should be looking elsewhere to find who and what does, not remain seated surrounded by things they don’t enjoy dishing out irrelevant comments about “you tweet too much” or “why have you reposted that it’s not even funny”.
Your mum’s not funny mate, fs.

Even away from job prospects or career gains, people who generally enjoy copious amounts of social media aren’t harming anybody. Telling someone they simply post too much (on any social media) is not harming them, and it’s certainly not harming the person saying it either. Unless a person is being bullied online, anything said and done can be insignificant if you want it to be. Even if a person is saying something that may jeopardise their career, that’s still inconsequential to a next man. Why get involved with something that holds no relevance to you? Why let someone else’s thought process affect the outcome of your life? As I say unless something is directly aimed at you…why not keep it moving? It’s not by force to follow or interact with people that don’t help you grow or bring you any entertainment.

I think it’s time people took responsibility for themselves rather than spending their time focusing on the lives of others. We all signed up to these various means of communication willingly therefore we all have the ability and control to detach ourselves from them if they are no longer serving us a purpose. It’s time people looked to themselves and acknowledged their own online behaviour before jumping down the throat of someone else for theirs. As I said, Twitter may not be someone’s favourite media but they might love a Facebook video, 20 times a day. It’s the same thing. Same shit different app lol.

Anyway, have you ever been told you use social media too much? How do you feel when someone feels the need to tell you about yourself? I know that I’ve sometimes felt embarrassed but now I couldn’t care less. At the end of the day if having a presence on social media is going to get me where I want and deserve to be, you can count on me doing it. People who disagree can enjoy their shit jobs where they spend their whole lunch hour on social media anyway 😀