I was going to write about RC Swing tonight, but there’s something else that’s been on my mind all day, so I’ll postpone that just like I postponed yesterday’s topic.\u00a0 Today, I want to talk about how I deal with social networking and the media.<\/p>\n
Starting just after the election, I got off of social media completely for several months.\u00a0 I wasn’t sure I was even going to go back to Facebook.\u00a0 I hated to give it up completely, though, because there are some people I’ve reconnected with on Facebook that I don’t interact with in any other way.\u00a0 Giving up Facebook was giving up on those people, and I care about them.<\/p>\n
I gave up social media because I couldn’t stand the constant conflict.\u00a0 I kept getting upset by what I saw there, and I didn’t really know how to deal with it.\u00a0 So I walked away and took a break.<\/p>\n
I kept reading the news, however.\u00a0 And I continued to get upset.<\/p>\n
Now I’m back on Facebook, reading the news, and I’m even spending time on Twitter.\u00a0 I’ve fully immersed myself in all the topical, temporary flotsam that I can handle.\u00a0 I’m gorging myself on current events and political opinions.<\/p>\n
How does it make me feel?<\/p>\n
It doesn’t make me happy.\u00a0 For the most part, I’ve built up something of a tolerance, but I’m not exactly enjoying what I’m reading.\u00a0 The news stories aren’t always reliable, and it’s a little bit exhausting going off to multiple sources and double-checking reality.\u00a0 Social media is punctuated with frivolity and snark intertwined.\u00a0 Everything is formatted either as a lure or a weapon, to draw someone in or illicit some emotional reaction.\u00a0 There’s constant noise, constant banality, constant terror.\u00a0 It drains my attention and my energy.<\/p>\n
At the same time, there are moments of light that make it worth it.\u00a0 There’s humor and humanity.\u00a0 There are people being truly supportive of one another, sharing in their victories, and helping others through their hard times.\u00a0 There are momentary flashes of the best of what humanity has to offer, like islands of comfort beset on all sides by a sea of anger and vitriol.<\/p>\n
Also, I can’t look away.\u00a0 It’s like being a passenger in a car.\u00a0 Some people are comfortable as passengers.\u00a0 I’m not.\u00a0 I have to see where I’m going and what’s going on, even if I’m powerless to make a difference.\u00a0 If we’re going to crash, I want to know about it before it happens.<\/p>\n
The last couple of days have been really difficult.\u00a0 First there was the mass shooting in Las Vegas.\u00a0 Then Tom Petty died.<\/p>\n
There’s been bad news in constant supply for weeks and weeks, mostly coming through political channels.\u00a0 When the news is bad enough, like it has been the last couple of days, I find it hard to stay focused and do what needs doing.\u00a0 It impacts my work, my music, and my writing.<\/p>\n
But I keep going.\u00a0 The last couple of days have been harder than other days, but I keep going.\u00a0 I summon my willpower.\u00a0 I buckle down.\u00a0 Sometimes I blast some music.\u00a0 I do what must be done.\u00a0 I write the program.\u00a0 I play the music.\u00a0 I write the words.\u00a0 I keep going.<\/p>\n
Several times, I’ve seen the sentiment that it’s not talent that makes a writer successful, but stubbornness.\u00a0 The will to keep going, to push through rejection and just be persistent enough to write the next story and submit again.\u00a0 I believe it, and I also believe that writers aren’t the only ones to succeed through such strength.<\/p>\n
I want to offer advice on how to find the strength to keep going when the going is tough, but I don’t have any.\u00a0 It’s different for different people, and it’s different for different situations.\u00a0 Sometimes, you have to just close yourself off from everything and focus on the individual tasks, like putting one foot in front of the other.\u00a0 Sometimes, you have to take a step back and look at the big picture, like looking up to the horizon, or checking a map.\u00a0 Either way, to reach your destination, you have to keep moving.<\/p>\n
To bring this back to the original topic, I see a lot of people that refuse to read the news or stay informed, and I understand why.\u00a0 Ignorance truly can be bliss, and I have a couple of coworkers that are happier believing that things are as they’ve always been, and nothing ever really changes.\u00a0 If nothing every really changes, what’s the point of reading the news or staying up-to-date with social media?<\/p>\n
I believe things do change, though.\u00a0 The climate is changing.\u00a0 The political landscape has changed.\u00a0 Technology advances.\u00a0 The world is smaller and more accessible than it has ever been in history.<\/p>\n
So, I’ll continue to watch and hope for the best.\u00a0 The time for me closing my eyes and burying my head in the sand is past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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