Sunday, February 03, 2013

Oh Myyy! Social Media

I've been reading George Takei's book "Oh Myyy" and it's very clever, funny and insightful.  He describes his journey into social media from Twitter to Facebook and the impact he's made as well as his take on it.

How sharing and liking a post on facebook, means a lot more than just wanting your "friends" to see it. But it runs deeper than that, it shares a part of you, something you want people to know about yourself, your life, and how you think.  Being naturally social creatures, these forums and the attention we receive from them has changed how we display our lives.


This got me thinking about my own posts and feelings when others post.  It makes me jealous to see certain posts on people's pages as I'm sure some of mine elicits that reaction in others.  But then I think we need to examine why we feel certain emotions from others posts, because if you don't care at all then that feeling won't even be a factor.  For example I ask myself am I jealous because I want to live that "life" too and if that's the case why am I not?

What can I do to get there? Would it really make me happier?

I will still continue to post my photos of food and the beach and surfing and my dog because those are things I love and want people to know about me.  It has also made my friends think about me enough to send me messages, leading me to new products and places to visit to SUP/surf, new articles to read, new connections with people in the HR and org development world, etc.

And if anyone really wants to know why I live my life the way I do now?  Because its too short, because when I lost my mom at 23 I learned something about how I wanted to live my life, how much I wanted to love people and what I do and what I really needed to get rid of and stop caring about.  For me to have meaning in my life it involves creating connections and to share and find information on things I love to do.

In comparison the 80-90ish years we will live are a small nick in the timeline of the world, we have to make it mean something to us.