InstaTwit, and Proud of It
I’m a Gen X’er. My tween years can be divided by before and after MTV, Walkmans, the Challenger exploding during mid-terms. You still had to drop your film off a developing place, there were still some of those Kodak booths about. We had radio stations on speed-dial (or, those of us cursed with rotary phones learned to push that sucker back hard!) to score movie tickets and free albums…actual vinyl albums.
We had tape recorders and put them to good use. When young, my sister and I would gulp glasses of water, then lay the tape recorder across our bellies while we churned and swish and recorded some great beastly noises.
I was only allowed a half-hour of television a night, so I tap recorded M*A*S*H episodes and listened to them over and over. (Many thanks to the writers. I’ve more than once dropped a great Hawkeye or Col. Potter quip and come off as funny and erudite.)
My 7th-grade BFF and I spent an entire sleepover recording ourselves doing interviews. Donning an impressive array of character voices we created a soap opera and newscasts. We used a second recorder and overdubbed ourselves being social to create a party scene. As the night wore on it got more and more ridiculous. To this day, if I say the words “steak tartar,” or “funny little man in Times Square,” I bet Stacy Stuart’s abdominal muscles would instantly remember the ache of the side-splitting fun.
Music went viral via mix-tapes. When my 20-year old adventuresome self moved to Southern California in 1990, I collected actual current music off the radio and created a pretty sweet mix tape to send home to my sister. Poor dear was confined by rural broadcasters to a choice of classic rock, country, christian, or polkas. I believe I wrote, “Purple Porpoise Productions” on the tape labels.
I look back and see my writer’s mind at work. But the creating of such things was an honest creative pursuit. Not like what I’m being asked to create now.
I have an Instagram account, and a Twitter account, and two Facebook Pages. I’m on LinkedIn, and Minds, and YouTube, and Medium, and am in the process of test driving platforms like expertise.tv and nanastream.com
I get it.
I don’t wanna.
I’m down with the platforms that allow me to teach long distance to folks, but the rest of it feels like eating fistfuls of fruit loops with no milk to wash it down with.
I detest the obligation of it. Because if you don’t feed the fans, you’re out of the queue. When I was more Insta-regular, I found it altered my mindset while moving through my day. My eyes were scanning for “that thing.” That moment, that oddity, that cuteness that I could toss to the digital hounds and be done with it. I didn’t like that I would “frame” things in my mind’s eye as I look about. My 3-D, analog experiences felt tangled up in flat, glowing digital world of visual stimulation. Sugar for the eyes, but no fiber for the mind or soul.
I’m uneasy with the feeling of chasing digital responses. Honestly, I simply can’t make myself care if I’m growing my audience or not. I like the slow way my business grows. The word-of-mouth and the unexpected crossing of paths. I like the sense of community.
Sometimes I toy with the idea of turning crowdfunding and digital engagement on it’s head. Instead of sweating my tweeting, and following formulas that make my Insta account look like a checkerboard of Over-saturated-Yoga-Vogue-Alooza #awesome,I’ll take my time and make it personal.
Instead of that pitch of paying me “the cost of a cup of coffee” per week, (I won’t even get into the stomach turning disdain I often feel for the pitches that pepper my digital experience,) instead of asking a pittance from a throng I shall never meet…pay my rent. Pay my rent and I will write you a short story feature one place of your choice, one character of your choice, and one plot point of your choice.
Pay my rent for three months and I’ll hand bind that paper puppy up and present it to you over cup of coffee…my treat.
I’ve used HootSuite. I’m familiar with all the tips, tricks, and appy backflips I could use. I’m not seeking an easier way to manage it. I’m questioning it altogether.
If I work hard for more engagement with you, it means I’m seeking outcomes I think are actually bad for both of us.
We both end up staring at glowing screens for longer periods of time. We’re both exposed to more ads, more notifications, more demands on our attention. I don’t want you to spend 15 minutes scrolling and commenting on my dazzling photos. I want you take a damn walk.
Go be a analog human being, sniffing the air and listening to the birds and NOT scanning for that bit you feel you must toss to the hounds. Don’t wait until your brain is screaming for a good de-fragging to go on vacation. Get up ever hour and reboot. Reconnect. Go slow; 3D world is rich in its minutia.
Maybe I’ll see you out there.
If not, I’ll post a picture…eventually.
