Friday 17 July 2015

Superfluity

I have tried not to let technology swamp me but I've still been swept away by the surge of social media…

It was FriendsReunited that started it! Or rather they didn't because unless you coughed up you couldn't be "reunited" with anything more than a 'South-Park-Lite' avatar holding a pint or wine glass. So when someone invited me instead to join something called Facebook I was blown away. It was like taking a Jeff Bridges’ style TRON-Trip into a whole new world!

Through the power of Social Media I was able to communicate with those people I’d been slowly losing track of. Together we could see how we looked now and compare it to how we were then. We could tell everyone just what we were doing and why. We could 'like' things and see what others 'liked'. And the extras were just that - merely a bonus. I’d indulge in the odd Poke now and then or a bit of late night Scrabble or maybe some casual Ninja on Pirate action. All was well… but that was just the start...

Next people were Tweeting as well as Booking-The-Face. So I opened an account to see what they were saying. But when I tried to Tweet a quip I found the word count restrictive. So I Bloggered a blog instead (dear reader you is reading it). But then words weren't enough so I joined Instagram as well to show off my 'filtering' skills. Little did I know I'd unwittingly put myself in the path of the Social-Tsunami… 

Suddenly everything became Uber-Social. YouTube stopped being the place to just to watches cats and catastrophes, instead you needed to subscribe to popular posters. A Google search become a Google+, but you didn't just Google you Binged as well. Linkedin wanted to know all my ex-jobs and helped make them sound really important. Tumblr came begging for any unwanted photos or posts. Everywhere became 'like' this or 'favourite' that - even the BBC! But still I didn't realise the danger. 

Elated with my new found blogging powers I started a second blog and then another and then another! I could handle it. And then the MOOC's arrived whispering "Join us! Join us! We're free! Join us!".  And still the requests came in from more and more media sites. I was picked up by the pictorial-pasting of Pinterest; collecting and parading my lifestyle for all to see while demanding adoration for my choice of ‘pins’!

Finally, too late, it dawned on me. There were too many sites to read and comment on and too many others to update and boast from. I wasn't writing a single Blog and worst still by not adding to the media I was unintentionally becoming a social-stalker! The awful truth hit me like a bucket full of ice! I was “posting” nowhere fast!  

With a mighty effort I fought the current, dragged myself to higher ground and let the wave pass on by... 

And have I learnt my lesson? Oh yes! No more swimming in social media for me, just a paddle on the shore. I will still show my Facebook in public and I shall keep the one Blog above all others (dear reading I hope you is still reading it) but that is my lot. I've learnt what my limits are. And if I lose touch with people, or even the World, as they sweep past me then so be it. I shall be content... 

(Of course I am also staying on Pinterest because I’ve found I can push these posts onto it, and I find some great up-cycling ideas there, and I’ve picked up a few followers recently and because… say… can anyone else hear a rumbling sound…?)

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