Social Media

I've really been getting into Twitter and Instagram lately. Don't even ask me about Pinterest, I could  scroll on that for hours haha! But I want to know more about what people think of Twitter and Instagram. There are so many blog posts stressing how important it is for bloggers to stay connected through social media, and I'm just wondering how many actually do. There are days where you can't get me off of the internet, but some days I feel like its all fake, you know? It's not like how it used to be, where you can genuinely make new friends. Now it's more like "I'll follow your blog if you follow mine" and that drives me insane. 

Does anyone else feel the same way? On instagram, I'll be scrolling through some of my favorite accounts, and all the comments say are "like for like" "first" "follow back". I mean seriously! These social platforms are meant to help and create. Now it's all turned into a competition to see who can get more followers or likes. It truly makes me sad and I wish I could change it.

Now that I have my iPhone, I'm really making it a priority to make my twitter and instagram accounts nice and fitted to me. I want to put out genuine content and meet real, genuine people. I think it would be so cool to connect with different bloggers around the world. Wouldn't it? I've tried to join some of those blogger chats, but they are on a completely different time zone than me so it's so difficult to do. But one of the big reasons I started blogging was to make friends. I LOVE to chat with people who have some of the same interests as me, like many people do. So I think getting to know people through social media is awesome. It's important to me and I don't want fake people to troll my accounts either. But, i guess thats what comes with it nowadays so I shouldn't complain. 

What do you think about social media today?

Maddie

Social Media Break

So for the past two months I've taken a break from social media. Meaning I haven't checked twitter or instagram ONCE! This is a very big deal for me because I was kind of addicted to it, badly. As soon as I would open my eyes after my alarm went off, I would reach right for my phone and check twitter, then instagram, and maybe pinterest. I would go on with my day and check it periodically. And then before I went to bed (meaning lying under my covers in the dark) I would scroll endlessly for over an hour before I even shut my eyes. I noticed that I was starting to not even care what I was reading, but I was just addicted to checking the apps. So without even making it a goal or anything, I just stopped checking it for good. And surprisingly, it didn't phase me at all. Since August 17th, I haven't checked twitter or instagram up until today, and I'm not even upset or agitated by it. I feel like I haven't really missed out on anything and it's helped me to realize I won't die without these sites!

Basically, I was able to wake up more peacefully, and have an extra 30 minutes or so to do something else, in my case meditate and do yoga before I exercise in the morning. And before bed, I make a nice cup of warm tea now and grab a magazine or a book and get inspired that way. And I LOVE it. Even though I want to be a blogger and social media is a part of the job, it's always nice to take a cleanse and realize what's most important. 

So I think I want to check my feeds regularly again, but not the way I was before, because you know I still like to keep up to date with the people I follow! ;) And if you're not totally addicted instagram and twitter are very creative and inspiring apps, especially to us writers/bloggers/designers.

Have you ever gone on a 'social media cleanse?'

Maddie