For the past couple of weeks I have been venturing back into a few social media platforms (just because!) and to my surprise I didn’t find the experience all that bad. As per usual, however, I grew tired of it quite quickly and now I’m left with this urge to remove myself from social media entirely and return to the blogosphere. Can’t say I’ve ever been a dedicated blogger, but it’s one of these spaces which I constantly feel drawn to, consciously and subconsciously. I’m not a brilliant communicator or writer of any sort, but I’m comfortable enough with putting my thoughts into words that I would lowkey see myself as a true blogger. Now, the main reason why I no longer feel like sharing my life on social media is that to me, the interface gives off this “forced” dynamics of viewership and engagement. Of course it’s my friends who are (semi voluntarily) scrolling through my contents, watching my “stories”, reading my captions. But! as a user myself I often feel overwhelmed by the algorithm of the likes of facebook and instagram, etc. Consuming media selectively becomes such a challenge and at the same time I gradually lose interest in the benefits I gain from using these sites or apps, which is a shame. On top of that, social media enforces this temptation to curate and filter everything that gets put out on the web (because duh, what goes online stays online, permanently). Of course the same thing happens with blogs, but in general, social media users are subject to way more “norms” and “etiquettes” thanks to the constant “contact” with others. Blogging involves less of this social ping-ponging and is relatively more “unilateral” (all the more so if I disable comments, which I tend to do), so I have more agency to share however much and however often I want, with however little filter/self-editing I wish to honor.
Anyway, these are just a few thoughts I have today to start off this digital space of me sharing all kinds of bullshit which I doubt will interest anyone. But then again, the point is not to have an audience (something we all become too preoccupied with in our social media presence). I’m happy with oversharing things here if I do indeed have a lot to share. It’s all casual. it’s all cool. no filter needed. I can now go wild with my run-on sentences and NOTHING can make me feel the need to reread my writing and polish it.