social media in my life, {part two}
In my previous post I explored some of the impacts social media has had on my life. To be honest, I mostly touched on the negative aspects. Today, I'd like to offer a little different spin on it, answering the following:
How do I impact social media, what can I change, and what have I learned?
So in thinking about my role in social media, where do I go from there? If, from my experience, I see the negative impacts it can have on me, what approach do I take in my active involvement in it? Do I stay clear from it altogether? What are my limits?
I think there's several things to consider. First, the amount of time I choose to spend in it. I'll admit, when I first got Facebook, it was all consuming. I spent hours looking people up, looking through photos, reading about where all my old friends were, and what they were doing. I made sure to post a new status update every few hours. Eventually, it started to feel a bit ridiculous. I was "friends" with people I didn't even know - you know, friends with friends of friends. The "this is what I'm doing every waking minute" started to feel completely egocentric. After all, did anyone really care what I was eating for lunch or need a play-by-play of my day. Hands down, no. Nothing good could from me investing that much time into something that isn't beneficial to my being. So, I took some steps back. I didn't avoid it altogether, but became less invested in it.
Also, I have become more thoughtful in what I post. Typically, I only post links to my blog or an occasional funny thing my kids do or say.
I now have to ask myself, what is my purpose in sharing this? Is it to build myself up or, rather, just something I want to share. Granted, I cannot control how someone else will perceive my Facebook activity, no more than someone else can control whether or not their post made me feel like a failure, arose feelings of jealousy, or made me insecure. If I feel like my motives are pure, I am one hundred percent confident in that. And that's what it comes down to with me. This goes with photos too. Do I need to post a selfie everyday? Nope. But an occasional photo of me with my kids - why not? Sometimes I post before/after photos of my workout programs. Because I am passionate about fitness, I like to share real results of something that has been great for me, to encourage other people. I can't tell you how many doors this has opened and people who have come to me asking for advise or wanting accountability. And I am so happy that I can do that. As long as I know my reasonings are healthy and good, I am totally comfortable with it. Make sense?
Someone mentioned to me yesterday that although there are negative aspects to social media, there are also things to take inspiration from. I completely agree. I cannot tell you how many inspirational blogs I have found, how many great ideas I have found photography wise, even brand new friends I have somehow connected with one way or another. There are things I never would have learned and people I never would have known, had it not been for social media. There is family I would probably not be able to keep up with otherwise, as well as friends from high school and college. And guess what? I really do go on Pinterest when I need inspiration for a specific idea. I have found that to eliminate my insecurities, it's best for me to not spend any more time than necessary, otherwise I let myself start to feel inadequate and overwhelmed. I have to find a balance that is beneficial to my person, if that makes sense.
In so many ways, I have learned to not take myself so seriously - which is huge for me. I naturally tend to over-think, over-analyze, and be critical of myself. But now I can post a "professional" photo and have learned to not care whether or not everyone thinks it's amazing, horrible, or whatever it is they think. I'm beyond the point of needing to be the best at photography. Rather, I can just be what I am. I love to blog and express pieces of myself. Mostly, I share stories of our family and my kids. I write letters to my kids on their birthdays and create videos for them to watch later on in life. I'm not sure I ever mentioned why I started a blog in the first place. Years ago, a girl from college passed away. She lived on my floor, yet I knew nothing about her. Somehow I stumbled across her blog after her death and found it fascinating {this was back when blogs were a new thing}. I couldn't believe that I could read and learn all these things about her and more importantly, that her family had this incredible memento. I wanted to create this for my family. It became my own little space where I can freely share fun moments, photos, thoughts and ideas, and sometimes my opinions. People can choose to read it or not to read it. But nonetheless, it's a piece of me.
Perhaps I seem a bit contradictory - I'm insecure, yet I've also grown confidence. Ha! Both are true. I've definitely seen areas that have negatively impacted me and I've grown in some areas as a result. With anything, there's going to be good and bad. The most important thing is for me to keep myself in check. My security should ultimately come from God. Any inadequacies are me clearly not giving those things over to Him. Yet I am human. I make mistakes. My kids are human. They are also growing up in this day and age of technology and social media. I think it's helpful for me to know the areas in my life that are strengths and those that are weaknesses. I need to be consciously aware of how my environment affects me. I'm continually learning how to balance all of these things - how to live in the world that I live in, yet not be completely in it. Basically, how to live out Romans 12:1-2...
"Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
Hopefully this all makes sense. And maybe, causes you to consider some of these things in your life as well. Let me know your thoughts :)
How do I impact social media, what can I change, and what have I learned?
So in thinking about my role in social media, where do I go from there? If, from my experience, I see the negative impacts it can have on me, what approach do I take in my active involvement in it? Do I stay clear from it altogether? What are my limits?
I think there's several things to consider. First, the amount of time I choose to spend in it. I'll admit, when I first got Facebook, it was all consuming. I spent hours looking people up, looking through photos, reading about where all my old friends were, and what they were doing. I made sure to post a new status update every few hours. Eventually, it started to feel a bit ridiculous. I was "friends" with people I didn't even know - you know, friends with friends of friends. The "this is what I'm doing every waking minute" started to feel completely egocentric. After all, did anyone really care what I was eating for lunch or need a play-by-play of my day. Hands down, no. Nothing good could from me investing that much time into something that isn't beneficial to my being. So, I took some steps back. I didn't avoid it altogether, but became less invested in it.
Also, I have become more thoughtful in what I post. Typically, I only post links to my blog or an occasional funny thing my kids do or say.
I now have to ask myself, what is my purpose in sharing this? Is it to build myself up or, rather, just something I want to share. Granted, I cannot control how someone else will perceive my Facebook activity, no more than someone else can control whether or not their post made me feel like a failure, arose feelings of jealousy, or made me insecure. If I feel like my motives are pure, I am one hundred percent confident in that. And that's what it comes down to with me. This goes with photos too. Do I need to post a selfie everyday? Nope. But an occasional photo of me with my kids - why not? Sometimes I post before/after photos of my workout programs. Because I am passionate about fitness, I like to share real results of something that has been great for me, to encourage other people. I can't tell you how many doors this has opened and people who have come to me asking for advise or wanting accountability. And I am so happy that I can do that. As long as I know my reasonings are healthy and good, I am totally comfortable with it. Make sense?
Someone mentioned to me yesterday that although there are negative aspects to social media, there are also things to take inspiration from. I completely agree. I cannot tell you how many inspirational blogs I have found, how many great ideas I have found photography wise, even brand new friends I have somehow connected with one way or another. There are things I never would have learned and people I never would have known, had it not been for social media. There is family I would probably not be able to keep up with otherwise, as well as friends from high school and college. And guess what? I really do go on Pinterest when I need inspiration for a specific idea. I have found that to eliminate my insecurities, it's best for me to not spend any more time than necessary, otherwise I let myself start to feel inadequate and overwhelmed. I have to find a balance that is beneficial to my person, if that makes sense.
In so many ways, I have learned to not take myself so seriously - which is huge for me. I naturally tend to over-think, over-analyze, and be critical of myself. But now I can post a "professional" photo and have learned to not care whether or not everyone thinks it's amazing, horrible, or whatever it is they think. I'm beyond the point of needing to be the best at photography. Rather, I can just be what I am. I love to blog and express pieces of myself. Mostly, I share stories of our family and my kids. I write letters to my kids on their birthdays and create videos for them to watch later on in life. I'm not sure I ever mentioned why I started a blog in the first place. Years ago, a girl from college passed away. She lived on my floor, yet I knew nothing about her. Somehow I stumbled across her blog after her death and found it fascinating {this was back when blogs were a new thing}. I couldn't believe that I could read and learn all these things about her and more importantly, that her family had this incredible memento. I wanted to create this for my family. It became my own little space where I can freely share fun moments, photos, thoughts and ideas, and sometimes my opinions. People can choose to read it or not to read it. But nonetheless, it's a piece of me.
Perhaps I seem a bit contradictory - I'm insecure, yet I've also grown confidence. Ha! Both are true. I've definitely seen areas that have negatively impacted me and I've grown in some areas as a result. With anything, there's going to be good and bad. The most important thing is for me to keep myself in check. My security should ultimately come from God. Any inadequacies are me clearly not giving those things over to Him. Yet I am human. I make mistakes. My kids are human. They are also growing up in this day and age of technology and social media. I think it's helpful for me to know the areas in my life that are strengths and those that are weaknesses. I need to be consciously aware of how my environment affects me. I'm continually learning how to balance all of these things - how to live in the world that I live in, yet not be completely in it. Basically, how to live out Romans 12:1-2...
"Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
Hopefully this all makes sense. And maybe, causes you to consider some of these things in your life as well. Let me know your thoughts :)
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| The boys trying to FaceTime Daddy since he's out of town. On another positive note - how amazing is technology that this is possible? |
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| I can barely get a word in. Ha! |
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