Let’s talk about social media. Or more specifically, let’s for a second (or even a few minutes) talk about how social media platforms and/or various websites seem to have completely changed the way we now live our day to day lives. No, not just in the way that we (and others) are now perceived (or seen) by those who view our various online profiles, but how we seem to perceive who our 'real friends' are and how successful we (and others) may actually appear to be, based on how many friends, likes, shares, heart emojis, and/or followers we may, or may not have. Don't worry, I’ll try to avoid discussing the array of meaningless activities that we seem to enjoy highlighting to our peers and what our pictures end up looking like. (Thanks to the cool Snapchat filter, I love my puppy ears - not).. Now before I go completely off here, let me ask you to please not take me too wrong. I’ll be the first to admit that I completely LOVE the internet (I enjoy watching dancing cats videos, or scrolling through Youtube comments with a bucket of popcorn for hours on end as much as the next guy), but I think that it's very important that as humans we at least try to consider that a lot of what we view online is filtered with so much smoke and mirrors that it’s hard to conceive what we might actually be viewing, and far too often not very much of what we’re looking at is a true reflection of who we (or others) may be like in real life. As administrators of our individual profiles we have control (actually the website owner has control, but you know what I mean), over what content we show the world and logically, this means that others can control what they show us in return. I think it’s fair to say that we’ve become a little self absorbed (contradicting myself while writing this post and hoping it may be read by millions), and we enjoy the idea that those viewing our online profiles may assume that, well - ‘life is always just perfect’, when in reality life can be a little messy sometimes. Forming opinions about how wonderful things may (or may not) look online and/or assuming that we ‘really’ know someone because we just so happen to follow them and read their status updates everyday might in actuality, not be the smartest thing us humans could do for ourselves mentally and recently,(if I'm honest) it’s left me feeling a little ‘empty’. I often question myself on the amount of time I give to these platforms and wonder if it’s really worth it? I get it. Social media can be really fun and at times even rewarding. For me personally it's helped me build up several bands and startups over the years and I’ve even managed to secure a few gigs via certain platforms (cha-ching). It allows us to keep up to date with various events and ‘life moments’ from friends and family that we would probably otherwise have missed, and for those living abroad from their loved ones (like myself), it is a really great tool to use for staying in touch. Not to mention the way we can use it to pass time when we’re bored and hanging around backstage before gigs. I just think it may be healthy to ask ourselves when enough social media might actually be enough, every now and then and if you related to this post in any way, shape or form, I'm betting that you've asked yourself the same thing... If you're interested in learning more about overcoming digital distractions, I greatly recommend 'Untethered', a book all about building healthy digital habits for a healthy life, by Sini NinKovic. @MusiciansMentorPics
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