I’m often the first person to bemoan the negative effects of social media, whilst being a total hypocrite in being just another one of the suckers sharing what I’m up to on the ‘gram slightly too often. I’ve spoken with a few friends about this who are happy and confident that their social media use is a net positive, that is is enriching and allows them to learn, connect, and experience things in a better way, despite a few little drawbacks.

As for me, I’m not sure I can be so comfortable with it. I have a sense it’s turning my brain to mush with an impulsive desire to check my phone and scroll through the nonsense for longer than is healthy or reasonable, consuming whatever shite the algorithm has served up to me that day. I find very little of it remotely enriching or educational whatsoever, and what is doesn’t commit itself to memory like reading a book might.

I find it easy to avoid when I’m away from home with my phone turned off and stuffed in the bottom of a rucksack, or in the back pocket out on the bike, but every now and again the impulse will sneak up on me, In a beautiful place or in great company, I will feel the desire to reach for my phone, take a picture, and share it. When I catch this feeling It affects me in two ways. Firstly, I feel dissapointed for the fact that the impulse is there, ruining the beauty of the moment, but secondly slightly proud of myself for catching that impulse and not reacting to it. Either way, I’d be a whole lot happier were the impulse not there at all – Photos can still be taken, and stories can still be told with friends in the pub or over a coffee without the necessity for social media.

I’m musing on this now because I’ve been dwelling a bit on how best(or whether at all!) to share some of what I get up to over my summer break in a way that doesn’t detract from experiences. What I’ve settled on is that I’m going to share occasional updates and photos on this blog, which I post to Facebook for the family to see, but not anywhere else.

I also want to touch on how blogging makes me feel, as I’m aware some people might be thinking that blogging and social media use are quite similar and that this whole thing makes no sense, spending my time on one platform moaning about another, but to my mind, it feels very different.

Of course, I do have impulsive thoughts about blogging. Something of note might occur on a trip and l will think to myself ‘Maybe I will write about that’, but it’s a far more fleeting and unobtrusive thought than the desire to post to social media. It’s not instant. It requires me to make the time to sit down at my keyboard and reflect. I can’t spoil a moment by pulling my phone out to share it with the world rather than keeping it just for me. Whilst both are vehicles for sharing what I have been up to with my friends, family, and the outside world, writing feels like an opportunity to relax and reflect inwards before sharing outwardly.

The same can be said for taking photos using a camera rather than a phone. Maybe (probably) I’m some sort of technophobe, but I love single-use peices of equipment. If I take photos on my camera, I will then take the time to look through them, reflect on them, and occasionally share them, but the whole process is much slowed down from the instant gratification machine of ‘let’s put this straight on Instagram’. Don’t even get me started on Tiktok.

So that’s that, If you are interested in what I’m getting up to and would like to follow along, this is the place to do it. and if you see me posting a million instagram stories in two months time, kindly call me out and tell me I’m not holding myself to account. ✌️