Enough With The Texty Texty.
Not this drastic yet. via @johnnymip on Flickr/Creative Commons
Should I write this post? I don’t know. I think I’ve written it before. If I wasn’t lazy I would l check. Here’s what it’s about: Social media. Time. Kids. Attention.
During my residency I attended a panel on blogging and social media. What I noticed was that the participants talked about having a good, focused blog, updated regularly. They did not talk about having tons of interaction on social media as an asset for your writing career. Social media is good for promoting yourself, but it is not necessary to do much with it besides have it post links to your blog and/or upcoming events. Yes, I know, there are many out there who have leveraged social media identities into book contracts and TV shows. That’s cool. Good for them. That’s not what I want to do. What I want to do is write some stories and books and get them published and have people read them.
If you know me, you probably know I spend way too much time on social media. I got thinking about this and wondered, why? Through deep self-analysis I came to the conclusion that I am one of those weird intro/extroverts. I love interacting with people and am energized by it. However, I am prone to extreme bouts of anxiety at public gatherings, and often prefer to spend most of my time at home. My RSVP response is often, “Solid Maybe” and then I don’t show. I’m terrible that way. Social media allows me to feel like I’m interacting with people, and I guess I am in a way, without the risk of crushing anxiety. But it’s a time suck, and I’m not interacting with people in a way that is good for me, not really. What is better for me is to accept some invitations and go have a cup of coffee.
Finally, and this is the worst, my kids tell me I’m on my phone too much. “Enough with the texty, texty,” they say. Does that make me feel terrible? Yes.
This is my plan: more blog posts, less social media. I have a goal of one blog post per month on my resolution this year, but I’d like to bump that to two. One here and one over at www.katekastelein.com I also need to figure out a focus for this bad boy. As you can tell, right now, it’s mostly just random essays. Is there any coherence here? I don’t know. My other site will be writing focused. I think I should keep whatever this is and my more professional page separate. Facebook and Twitter are deleted from my phone and iPad (OK. I kept Instagram. Baby steps.) . Accounts will only be used to promote blog posts/publication information etc. I’ve disabled the banner notifications on my apps, all that’s left are the little bubble numbers indicating I have messages.
Oh, and one more thing, which should be pretty obvious if you bothered to read this thing; if want to comment, do so on this page. I won’t be checking/responding on social media….just using it to promote.