Pinterest and Other Conflicts of Interest

I'd love to join, and almost did last year, because I knew I would love it. But I also know that if I did, I wouldn't have time to do the other things I love: sewing, baking, knitting, connecting with my "real-life" friends, reading books aloud with my husband. 

Not to mention the usual: cooking all of our predominantly vegetarian meals from scratch, keeping our living space reasonably clean [not an easy task when we actually live in it - we're home schoolers, so we sit around at home all day - cue weak laugh from one tired mama!], spending time with our friends and neighbours on a daily basis, laundry for a family of six minus the convenience of a clothes dryer, dishes for the constant eating that goes on around here without the benefit of a dishwasher, being able to spend individual time with each of my four children daily.  I could go on, but I don't want to sound as if I'm complaining, because I'm not.  I'm just indulging in some realism.

I suppose I could hire someone else to run my Pinterest for me!  And my Facebook.  Then I would be able to juggle all these social profiles that are so visibly important in our day and age.  Or I could buy a new phone. My outdated Nokia doesn't connect me to every social networking site out there so I can't be at the beck and call of everyone I've ever connected with on the planet all day long.  However, even with the benefit of a personal assistant and a new phone, I still don't think I could do it.  Motivation to promote mySelf so brilliantly must be lacking.

Blogging seems to be my way of best expressing myself via a social network. Through sharing the bits and pieces that make up our day, I'm hoping that it's encouraging people who read it to indulge their own creative side in their everyday lives.  

Not in a competitive way. Social networking is our twenty-first century equivalent of the 1950's "keeping up with the Joneses".  Except nowadays, not only does our external, "real" life have to match up to everyone else's, so does our virtual, online life.  It's ridiculous, folks! Seriously. Martha Stewart went to jail.  Let's stop trying so hard to be her. It's just too exhausting, and the bar is always set too high.  

My blog is for my family, for my kids.  I want them to read this and look back at what we did, what our life was like, and remember.

It's for me, to express who I am and what I enjoy in a manageable, non-competitive way.  Just because I don't tell you about it doesn't mean we didn't do it!  Some things I keep to myself. 

Sometimes I'm saddened by all the constant connection that goes on between all of us.  Don't get me wrong; I love elements of Facebook. I like being able to keep up with faraway friends and family so easily.  Other aspects of it are not so great; it irks me when I can't have a conversation with a friend without seeing them refer to their phone every two minutes to check their Facebook updates.  What's happened to our concentration levels, to our ability to focus on one subject and that person right in front of us and just be present in that situation?  

I want to be a "present" person.  If I'm not being present for my friends, my family, my husband, or myself, I start to lose it!  Am I the only person on the planet like this?  Yet why is "being present" such an obsession these days?  Because it's necessary to focus on the now to maintain our own mental well-being!  Thinking too much about the future can cause worry to creep in, and thinking too much about the past can draw us into depression and a fruitless desire to change our past actions.  And thinking too much about what "everyone else" is doing will only end in dissatisfaction with our own life in comparison to theirs.

I hope you've caught the humour in this post.  I was laughing when I started to write it, laughing at the thought of myself trying to keep up all day online, with a new phone that maintained my constant connection to my online network.  Then it wasn't funny anymore because I thought of all the jobs piling up and the creative ideas put on hold and the relationships slowly reduced to soundbites and shallow conversations.

This is not a rant.  It's a conversation.  I'd like to hear your thoughts!