jon_chaisson | More thoughts on instant social media

I dunno...maybe it's the current administration's fault. ;-)

No, seriously, the Fuckwit has angered one side and emboldened the other that I've found myself getting exhausted by the reactive moods of Twitter and Facebook over the last few months. I won't complain that the platforms are going down the crapper, though. Both of them are what they are, with both good and bad points to them. They have good days and bad days.

I'm finding myself editing my online words a lot more than I used to. Mind you, it has nothing to do with censorship at all. It's more about a personal debate as to whether it's worth getting in to a conversation. It's funny; sometimes I'll be typing a response on Twitter, but if it takes me more than a minute to type it out because I'm trying to word it right, then I'll just delete it. No online argument is worth that much of my time. Same with Facebook -- I'll join in on an argument now and again, but most of the time it's on someone else's timeline, and I hate hijacking someone else's feed, so I'll hold back unless necessary. [On a side note, this works to my advantage, as the immediacy then causes me to lose a few filters. Beware when I have no fucks to give for someone's bullshit.]

In a way I've been trying to rebalance the writing platforms I use. I'm happy to be back on a social blog platform like this one, because I can take my own time to get the words right. There's no forced immediacy. More personal writings stay offline. Playground words are in the 750 Words. And this gives me enough energy to work through the new writing projects.

Maybe the thrill and the amusement of instant social media has worn off for me a bit? Could be, because I rarely go online to say 'hey, let's see what so-and-so is up to' as much as I used to. A lot of friends I follow aren't superconnected as they used to be -- they've got more important things to do. And I'm trying not to turn into an obsessive 'let's go watch a car crash' internetter. Because *I* have more important things to do as well.

I'm trying to be more creative, more positive about these things. It's hard sometimes, but it can be done.

Balance is always a good thing.