Things need to change around this house!
Call me crazy, but I don't want to look at my phone while I’m at the urinal anymore.
I don't want to refresh multiple social media accounts for knee-jerk reactions to unread articles.
For chrissake, I’m too old for this. I’m a geriatric millennial!
I recently discovered an old podcast from 2009 in which I lamented that social media "was killing me."
I was saying this in 2009??!!! AND I STILL USE IT?
I reasoned, as I still do, that I needed to be on all social media platforms because I was an artist. Not being on social media gave me no voice, no way to "build an audience.”
And while it's heartening to see people leave social media platforms for ideological reasons, my desire to flee was never ideological.
MINE WAS HUMAN!
I think what we’re doing is inhumane!
And yet...I can't leave them.
Not yet! I have a novel that I spent years on. I need to make sure people know it exists. I need to make dumb TikTok videos, goofball posts, anything to get eyeballs.
To be fair, there is part of me that enjoys it. The carnival barker nature of it. Step right up! Let me tell you a tale! It can be fun if you don’t take yourself seriously.
But what’s the long-term cost? I have an outline for my next novel just sitting there. Waiting to dive in. I could be doing that, right?
I’m torn. If I’m not promoting the new novel, what’s the point of a second one?
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
STILL…
I’ve been complaining about this since 2009!!!
When am I going to shit or get off the pot?
And when I shit, am I going to be staring at my phone still?
For chrissakes!
It's gotta end!
And lord knows I’m trying! I really am!
In March, my light phone should be shipping. And with it, a disconnection from the constant drip feed of content.
That’s a first step, right?
If I can sever this connection in my pocket, maybe I can slowly dissolve the rest of the bonds?
That 2009 podcast also got me thinking of Tumblr and how free and experimental that felt.
I want to get back to that feeling on this Substack! I don't want to write long editorials about something that annoys me! There are plenty of better-written Substacks that do that!
I want to post cartoons, audio snippets, videos, anything. I want this to be experimental, a depository of art and thoughts.
LIKE GARTH BROOKS WISHED FOR!
Eventually, I will quit all of social media. I think!
I’m pretty sure!
By the end of the year I’m going to throw up a graphic that says “FIND ME AT THIS SUBSTACK, PEACE.”
And be done!
Right???
Social media has given me the illusion of many friends, but when push comes to shove, how many of them do I truly have? Maybe, by eliminating social media, I can rebuild the human part of my life?
Or maybe everyone will just be annoyed I’m not on social media and eventually I will feel like I’m missing out?
Listen. I’m trying!
We can keep feeding our humanity into the machine or cut the strings and start over.
I swear to God, I'm cutting the strings!
I swear to God, I’m going to start over!
