Time’s Up

I feel bad about my ‘socials’ habit. I’m told it’s not my fault. The algorithms are set up that way. Intentionally addictive. There’s always just one more. Scroll scroll scroll along, very unmerrily, and then inevitably forget the damn thing I wanted to post in the first place. I have one platform that is inactive because it overwhelms me but I want to give it a chance. I have another that I only engage with because of groups I belong to but otherwise have a dormant presence there. And then there’s IG. It started as a lovely romance. Then things changed. She demands so much from me now.

I’ve now put myself on a timer. I set a limit in my settings for all my social media apps . The first time the tiles dimmed there was a mini panic of confusion. I thought an automatic update had been authorized without my knowledge. Then came the denial. Impossible I’d hit the limit already! Then the moment of shame. I huffed through an hour and a half with so little awareness of the time? Then the anger of wtf. Then I arrived at the bargaining phase – I allowed one extension if I could complete the post and exit the app within five minutes. And now I accept my love/hate relationship with IG. I know I can’t change it, I can only change myself. I’ve set a new challenge for myself… I drastically reduced my limit to 8 minutes. That’s not arbitrary, I’m trying to right size my time with the app from the infinite scroll to a bite size indulgence.

That time got used up in a flash today. I got completely sidelined by an author’s plea for credit from Ms Tina Lawson for using his work with zero acknowledgement. Come on Mama B, do better. You know someone took time to write that clever thing that captured your attention, give them their flowers! And if you’re actually paying someone to manage your shit, double shame because if this is job that employee needs to do better. Give people their credit. I tried to help bring attention to the issue but Bey’s mom had disabled the comments on the post she had not authored. Now I’m double vexed for expending time and getting zero results. It seems minor but it’s all part of the same thread of not acknowledging stolen lands, unabashed cultural appropriation, generational wealth acquired through unpaid labor, musical traditions disseminated through channels the authors had no access to, and well I could go on but my time for writing this post has run out. 

It’s a slippery slope but the internet is the last frontier. That someone with millions of followers can amplify the voice of someone with a meager few hundred is so powerful. But to abuse that power cuts deep. Mistakes get made but let’s start a trend where #correctionsarelit and #retractionsaresexy.
And if you don’t know, ask.
#whodidthis