This wasn't the post I wanted to write today, but I have so many thoughts, ideas and feelings about what is going on with local media right now, about Essena O'Neill (someone I have followed for a while now) 'quitting social media', about what real life is, about finding a balance. I don't even know what to do with my thoughts right now, I have pages and pages worth of thoughts running through my head enough to fill my entire journal. I am going back to a piece I wrote a while back in pen on paper about how the internet and social media is killing our creativity, how we can only be creative in one way.

I'm a blogger of sorts, I love creating the stuff I do on this blog, I enjoy editing, I don't really mind about how many page views it gets, I do it for enjoyment, to document what I am doing at the time, my travels, what I wear, what I have read, what I think. yes there are times when I can be consumed by the numbers, but then I just take a break I read a book, turn off my phone, hang out with my friend, drink some tea, workout, meditate, go on a walk, make some food, just stay away from social media and the numbers for a while. That is what I would call balance, there are times when social media can get too much, but there are also times when it does what is says it will can connects me with likeminded people. 

Yes Essena's reaction is extreme but it is what is right for her, if something makes you unhappy then remove it from your life and for her that was social media and the pressure she was under. i also think that she has gone a little far in that she seems to be tarnishing a lot of people of social media with the same brush. I doubt she means to but it is unfair on those she made connections with outside of social media, as well as everyone else who uses it for inspirational, creative and communicative purposes. But like i said earlier she need do what suit her, I know that sometimes I need a break, hers just happens to be public and incomplete. What she is doing has started a global conversation about the importance of social media and the damaging effects it can have on peoples mental health and wellbeing, and for that I am grateful.

The way I see it as you either see that social media is used as an advertising tool as well as being somewhere to create, or you don't realise how 'fake' it all is. Of course social media isn't real life and sometimes it can feel like that, but it isn't there is some much more to life that social media. If you spend most of your time on social media then you might want to question how you are living your life, but for some people it can be a way to connect with people who they would never have had the chance to engage with. I have made friends, found a better way of living, joined communities and created something I am proud of through social media.

I definitely will be writing more on this topic, once have done some more reading and looked at some the resources Essena has put up on her new site (here) about creativity and what really goes into that insta-worthy life. 

As with everything, too much of it can be bad for you. It is all about balance. 

XO, Miriam 

P.S. I hope this made some sense.