My Social Media Defeat

What does having a “career” mean anymore? These days you can make money from posting videos on the internet or just showing up to comic conventions. The age old standard idea of having a career has dissolved and you can actually make a living doing things you love.

That being said, it’s not always that easy. The “creative” field is definitely a tough market to make yourself stand out. As much as it is a challenge, a lot of people know how to make it work – you can probably thank social media for that. There’s apparently an art to knowing how to use sites and apps effectively to reach the kind of people you want to reach. I don’t know the first thing about it, but it’s actually possible. I’ve seen it work… through other people of course.

I always considered myself up to date with the newest internet craze and social media hives, but lately it no longer became easy for me to follow. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to be social, or maybe I just don’t have time and patience to keep up with them. I’ve been enjoying solitude too much lately where it feels like a burden to even log into Facebook. I’ve become so turned off, that whenever my name is tagged in a post, I instantly feel violated.

I used to have a strong internet presence, and I know that if I actually put in the hard work, I definitely have the potential to be my own boss and manage myself to stand out from the crowd. But I can’t help but shut down and walk away from useful tools that could advance my future. I’ve been turning into this “old and grumpy” person that longer knows the newest networking sites that can’t figure out how to use a simple app update. I’ve been enjoying living under a rock and hibernating too much. What happened to me? So far half a year has passed where an “anti-everything” attitude has been taking over and my curious personality is slowly disintegrating.

Is this becoming a common issue with other millennials? Or am I the only one experiencing this issue? I don’t care about how many “likes” I receive, I cringe when people post on my timeline. My birthday is also coming up and I’m contemplating deactivating my Facebook page so I don’t have to be bothered and bombarded with senseless birthday comments. Privacy has never felt so good before, and life feels fantastic when I take the big step in deleting apps off my phone.
But of course that comes with its bads. Like I said, there’s so many ways to become your own successful boss in this day and age, and unfortunately social media plays too big a role. So there goes my future.
Which makes me wonder… if I don’t give into these social dependencies, will life happen? Am I allowed to live without them? Can we be successful without selling our souls to “the network”?

I love where Damon Albarn’s head is at. PUN! [Watch the video]
He’s onto something here.