Social Media…

So we all know social media affects us to some degree, but I’ve been off Facebook for about a month now and there have been some interesting and unexpected insights into what the world of social media has done to me. Every once in a while I will pop back onto Facebook “just for a minute” and it happens again: the time drain. That part is no surprise, I guess, but I do wish I could just use the thing in moderation. So far I can't. Grrr

I went of Facebook for a variety of reasons (and people) but the easiest one to talk about is that it is such a distraction for me. I love being able to keep up with people from a distance and so Facebook is great for that. Frankly, I live far away from the majority of people in my life that I care the most about, so Facebook is such a great way to consolidate keeping tabs on them. Without this tool it is true that “keeping in touch” is harder, but what has most surprised me about my Facebook sabbatical is that I didn’t realize what a drain it was on my creativity.

I think inherent in creativity is the need for it to be first "externalized" and second "acknowledged." Or really, if not acknowledged at least publicized. This is my own experience speaking, of course, as I’m no authority on the matter, but well-known author Madeleine L’Engle corroborates this:

“The writer does want to be published; the painter urgently hopes that someone will see the finished canvas (van Gogh was denied the satisfaction of having his work bought and appreciated during his lifetime; no wonder the pain was more than he could bear); the composer needs his music to be heard. Art is communication, and if there is no communication it is as though the work had been stillborn.”*

I experience this with writing. Even though my readers are very, very few, there’s something about putting my thoughts online in an organized fashion that gives me that outlet that I need.

That’s where Facebook comes in. I have found that I have written more in the last month than I have in a long, long time. Not all of it has been “published” on this humble forum but I’m been surprised at the prolific degree of the words flowing out of me. Granted, some of this may be due to the time on my hands; part of it may be due to the events of the summer and the effect they had on me, driving me to process through writing (perhaps more on this later).

Maybe all of these things. But I have realized that some of it definitely has to do with the fact that I no longer sate my desire “to be heard” through small little--sometimes insignificant, sometimes not-- quips called “status updates” or even photos on Facebook. This “outlet” being removed, I have had more to say about many more things. I’ve been forced to hang on to my thoughts about things longer and to be more circumspect about what needs to be externalized and even more fastidious about what is “publicized.”

All of this as been very interesting to realize in the last month. I may come back to the world of Facebook soon but I’m really glad I’ve had at least this month to me, myself, and my thoughts.

(Day 2)

*Madeleine L’Engle, Walking on Water (Page 30). Emphasis mine.