I know that this is going to sound crazy from a person who is willing to spill her guts on a public blog, but I’m not one for social media. You probably couldn’t pick me out of a line-up from my ancient Facebook front page photo and my kids’ pictures are so old on my Facebook page, you might think they are competition for the waiting list on competitive, hard-to-get-into preschools (three of my kids are now adults). My LinkedIn was required for a part-time job that I had, that ended almost two years ago, when they shut down their local office. I imagine my LinkedIn appears like I still work there. I don’t know. I haven’t checked. I have an Instagram for this blog. It has one post.
When I admit my iffiness about social media to people, I get a variety of responses. I think some friends and family who love their social media, take it as an insult. I think sometimes people think that I am making some kind of judgmental statement with my ambivalence. I am not. I believe everyone has their passions and that is what makes the world go round. Facebook has been a very useful way for me to get in touch with long lost friends and relatives at almost instant notice and I think that is great. About a decade ago, I was much more into posting on Facebook, but then I started getting uncomfortable with it and the amount of time that I was spending on it. I’ve always been one of those people who is much more comfortable observing. Because I’m kind of a friendly, maybe even an “out-there” personality, I think I come across as a contradiction. I’m a natural introvert, who appears to be an extrovert.
The whole “Big Brother” thing kind of stresses me out, too. I’ve got nothing to hide, but I find it disconcerting to walk into a boutique and look at my phone, and have it remind me that I have been to that particular boutique two years ago and three times previous to that. I’m a little uncomfortable being tracked and stalked by my phone and whatever forces lie behind the tracking features. The more exposure everything seems to get, the more I seem to want to dive into my own little hole, like Alice, into my own little Wonderland.
That being said, all of that has served as a preface to a wild hair I got this weekend, when I thought it would be fun to turn our dogs into Instapups. Boredom and a lack of a schedule, brings out the crazy in me. If you follow my blog, you’ve read some stories about our dogs, so you can now follow them on ralphieandjosie on Instagram, if you are so inclined. I warn you, I get bored easily and I hate feeling overexposed, so I’m not sure how long it will last, but for now, I’m having fun with it. I’m not willing to put myself or my family out there too much on public pictorial stage, but hell, I’ll throw my dogs to the dogs, so to speak. 😉 And for now, they seem all in, tails wagging.
“Don’t say anything on online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” – Erin Bury