Monthly Archives: December 2012

thinking about the internet

I really like using social media.

Blogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Ravelry, Google+, Reddit, Pinterest…(the new MySpace?)

I know hardly anyone that doesn’t use some form of online social media. (My brother actually is one.)

A long while back, I didn’t use an RSS feed to check the blogs and websites I liked. I checked them manually. CRAZY.I.KNOW. And I was feeling irritated because I was using all this time to go through my friends’ blogs that they hadn’t updated in FOREVER. I ranted to a friend of mine, “Why do they even have blogs if they don’t use them?!”

And my wise friend Zack said, “You don’t get to determine how other people use the internet.” (And he told me about RSS feeds. What a genius.)

And that’s my advice. Stop telling other people that they are wrong for posting too many photos, or too much of what they are having for lunch, or talking about their pet/kid/favorite tv show, or for basically not using it the same way you do.

If you don’t want to see it or hear about it, then don’t follow/friend them. It’s that simple.

Let me restate: If you don’t like how they express themselves online, then don’t look at what they post. (Or don’t post in my earlier story.)

But wait, you say, “They aren’t using the tools right!”

My reply is, “In your opinion.” Maybe they aren’t using them in an effective manner to gain followers or to not be annoying to you or whatever, but unless they are being hateful bigots, leave them alone. Let them do what they want.

Stop criticizing.

Carry on.