Another Page – Social media and me …

Since I moved into my new digs on June 1st I’ve been without a constant and uninterrupted Internet connection that I’d grown accustomed – nay, addicted! – to having wherever I went, stayed, lived. It’s taken some adjustment, let me tell you! I go to the park’s Rec Hall to link into their free service to call Dennis on Skype and check in twice a day. But that service is not always connected. So I drive 20k into Kincardine and avail myself of their free WiFi at either the library or coffee shop across the street. Great! But I don’t like to sit there for too long and take advantage. I tried getting my own connection in the trailer, but it turned out that the entire park is in kind of a no-man’s-land when it comes to picking up signals (is that what Internet still does? pick up signals?) so I had to scuttle that idea and return the WiFi hotbox. It’s been a frustrating month as I withdraw, cold-turkey some days (like Mondays when the library is closed), from my 8-20 hour-a-day habit.

It’s not all doom and gloom here, though, as I’ve also discovered that most of what I was doing online, like checking up on social media, sharing, commenting, replying to comments, entering Goodreads Giveaways, and reading a lot of blogs that were no longer of much interest to me, was really now wasting what valuable online time I had. Now that I’ve been away from the trailer for two days and have had the luxury of a connection, I really noticed what little there was of earth-shattering importance that required my attention on either Facebook or Twitter (my two social-networks-of-choice) and I was able to spend that connected time tending to my blogs and preparing posts to promote authors (and write this post) that I could then publish and link to the social media sites. Once I stepped back from Facebook, I was astounded at how much I was actually able to accomplish. Just imagine now the novel writing I can get done, I thought, when I return to the trailer on Wednesday with this new-found discovery about myself and my work habits.

So while I’m not ready to deactivate those social media sites altogether, because I really do need them to promote other authors, my blogs as well as those blogs by friends, and my own writing, I won’t necessarily be on there all the time – commenting, sharing, telling you what I’m doing at that particular moment in my status update, or liking all of your comments and shares. And that’s not to say that I’m being noble or self-righteous by choosing not to check Facebook for hours on end any longer, or that I believe others who continue to do so are somehow deprived and pathetic in some way (even though I was bordering on that “pathetic” level myself). I’m not making any judgements here of anyone else and their use of social media. This post is definitely all about me – not about you. I’m judging myself only and can see that this is now the best way forward for me at this time.

So I may not be as “present” on Facebook or Twitter for a while, although I will continue to promote great authors there, so please do not unfollow or unfriend me immediately. I’ll also continue to share interesting articles, good blog posts, cat videos – because, Hey! we all need to watch cute cats frollicking every once in a while! – and other promos for author and musician friends. I just won’t be online 18/7. I’ll be reading and writing instead.

Of course, this new resolution of mine will all go to hell in a handcart the minute I set foot back on Bequia again, where I know I will have continuous access to the Internet – as long as the electricity doesn’t go off …

You are most welcome here! Enjoying the view with me from my trailer or verandah.

Susan