I have a few things rumbling around in my head, and I figure writing them down will make my brain less full. so! blog time
I’ve been watching some videos and short films on YouTube1 that’s really been making me think about how I go through life. I feel like I spend a lot of time not present, and I get stuck in my phone and not really spending time experiencing things in front of me. Sometimes, it almost makes me wish I could just delete all social media, and live on my website. This is something I very much can do, but the bonds and connections I’ve made with people, and the artists I look up to and admire being on those platforms make it hard for me to give up. So, what do I do?
I could in theory invest more time into RSS feeds, I kind of like them!
I’d just have to find avenues that make it easier for me to connect to Twitter and Instagram; the ones I have kiiinda break the feed. I kind of have a solution for Twitter now, nitter, but I feel like I could do something else. Or, maybe it’s the best option out there. Who knows!
It’s very tempting to start deleting apps. The tricky thing is, a good chunk of the apps I do kinda use, albeit on and off. I suppose I could go through them and see what is and isn’t benefiting me.
An aside across this line of thinking also has attached to my perception of my art and what I’m doing with it. I’m a recovering workaholic, and so nowadays I spend a lot of time making sure I don’t fall down the same rabbit holes and relapse into not taking care of myself. I’ve done pretty good at rebuilding the structure of my connection to my craft, but sometimes I do, in tandem with social media, feel as though my work’s worth is tied to how many people like it.
I definitely don’t think my work is bad, but I also know that it’s not commonly desired in more general circles, as I’ve come to understand— Especially in the cases of applying to some zines or other miscellaneous group projects.
Now, I could just stave off and not join any of these things, but the community that fosters from these types of projects is something that makes it disheartening to watch from the other side, as you’re almost never allowed to join (as I most often only really get ‘in’ when it’s made by a friend or someone I know).
It does, in a way, also make it easier for me to throw my hands up, and go: “Well I’m making it for me! So whatever if no one else2 likes it!”— Which I’m kind of attempting to do, since I do make this for myself, and enjoy engaging with it as if someone else made it specifically for me.
Ultimately, I think just focusing on my work (and life) rather than getting distracted by the hustle and bustle of social media is probably the best course of action to take. I want to enjoy things, make things, etc and not regret letting the days go by.3 4
- one about a pocket notebook, the art of slow living, your boring life is beautiful, and why I chose a boring life, to name a few. ↩︎
- hyperbolic, of course. ↩︎
- also I REALLY wanna go back to traditional sketching in a physical sketchbook. I used to do it All the time, and now I don’t do it much anymore ಥ‿ಥ ↩︎
- same as it ever was ↩︎
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