Introduction and Experiments in Social Media

Hey fellow interweb folks, Phaser Pulse here.  You can call me Phaser, or whatever, I go by a lot of different names on the internet.  I have a sister blog site at TaDolls! where I show my rescued dolls and toys that I enjoy repairing and restoring, projects which have been on the back burner while I work on my bachelor's degree and work a full-time job as a supervisor ... and I write ... so, I'm basically rarely bored, but I'm really liking where my life is going lately, and I feel like I'm on the right track, so yay!  The purpose of this new blog is to provide more of a personal touch, rather than the cut-and-dry format of TaDolls - I love that blog and plan to do more with it, but I want a more personal blog that I can update day-to-day, week-to-week rather than wait until I'm in the throes of a restoration project.

So, as of about a month ago, I walked away from one of the major social media outlets that I utilized on a daily, if not hourly, basis (2 guesses which).  I have since discovered the pros and cons of my decision, which I will list here.

Negatives:

• loss of social connections on a regular basis
• decreased ability to keep up with family and friends (didn't even know a family member passed away until the funeral was already over) 
• I am the last to know anything now.  Ever.
• a strangely hollow feeling like something is missing creeps up on me sometimes
• missing the latest humorous memes

Positives:

• more time to do what I feel are IMPORTANT things rather than sit on that social media site or get pulled into the constant distractions of mostly useless notifications
• friends reach out to me more with phone calls and text messages, which feels more personal
• in turn, personal connections feel more intimate, I don't feel like I'm just a social media buddy
• lower blood pressure!!!!
• I don't feel so agitated over ridiculous things that don't or shouldn't matter on a personal level and test friendships, like political conversations that get WAY too vicious and combative.
• I don't have to see 50 different people post/share the same meme/quote that got old in the last week or so.

So basically, I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives.  I actually didn't drop the site for any of these reasons - I did so for work-related reasons.  I anticipated all of the negatives, and I actually thought I would have withdrawal issues.  However, the positives were noticeable almost immediately.

I don't recommend everyone go out and ditch their social media accounts immediately.  I'm still on Twitter and the rarely used Tumblr, as well as Google+ (sorry, I'm not on there much either, though).  But maybe we don't need to be as constantly connected as we think we should be, you know?  I think oversharing of meaningless tidbits and being addicted to your feeds can be unhealthy, and I feel that it can cause the deterioration of deeper, more meaningful friendships and relationships in general.  I find myself actually wanting to blog more, which may be part of the reason I started this blog.  I'm not just giving a snippet of my life and my thoughts, but I'm actually typing out my thoughts and reflecting, regardless of my schedule.  I feel like I am making better use of my time, in general.   

But maybe I'm wrong.  As I said, it's been maybe a little over a month, and maybe I'll learn more about myself and my thoughts on social media as a whole.  I left it open to reactivate the account, as well, and maybe I will someday, but as of right now, I think I'm good.  

Until next time!