Open: Social Interaction

So being social, definitely not an easy task, especially these days, but I’m not here to bog you down with the details on the COVID that you already know. Today I wanted to simply riff about being social in general. I feel it’s important to both mental and physical health, and unless you’re a complete hermit (no judgements) you do need that shit. I think that’s been made more apparent by our current situation now more than it ever has been, and dare I say it, in history. A bold claim I’m sure, but I don’t think I’m too far off the mark.

Anyways, Social Interaction is definitely one of the cornerstones of our species, but I’m painting in broad strokes while my brain tries to find the path to the point. It’ll get there….. One of these days…..

So to start things off I am most definitely an extrovert, to the bone. I thrive in social interactions both large and small. I have learned over the years, through the great tutelage of my great introverted friends who taught me there really is something golden in going over to a friend’s house to put on music or a movie and simply enjoy the elegant beautiful of enjoying the mere presence of another, no words expected or needed. Obviously it took me a long time to learn that. I don’t mind being alone, but after a time it certainly has deeper effects on my psyche than others. I’m more resistant to it now through training and circumstance, but I need to be able to at least interact with people. It does wonders for my state of mind, even if it’s just a friend lovingly telling me, “GET A GRIP, MANCHILD!”.

I think it’s in our nature to gauge things against something else. I find terribly great value in have someone to at least bounce ideas off of. It’s kind of funny to think that before the pandemic, I relished interacting with my friends in person, and didn’t put as much stock into the digital version until very recently. It wasn’t until I quarantined for a while and my mind REALLY started to eat itself that talking with your friends online, while delayed at times, is just as good. Though a lot of us really miss hugging our friends, saying “hi”, catching up, supporting them through tough days, and telling them you love them, I feel, is just as impactful. I know it was for me.

Like most people I had an insanely rough go of things last year. I hit the Triple Crown of Suck, namely, Homeless, Jobless, and SO Lonely. I was in the throws of a mental breakdown (or two…) when some of my good friends invited me into a few really cool groups on Facebook where I found a wonder place to vent or laugh and made a lot of good friends whom I haven’t met in person, but plan to one of these days.

The point I’m driving at is, while it’s not the same as in person interaction, we can still stay in touch with all of the people we care about, and that’s nothing short of amazing. Of course it has it’s drawbacks, especially on the open field of the internet. There are plenty of people who take great joy in spreading flames about the internet, one of the reasons I’m not the biggest fan of Twitter, but that’s to be expected. The funny thing is being able to “enclave” in groups is kind of what warmed me back up to Social Media. My Newsfeed might be unmitigated nightmare fuel, but I could duck into some groups meant to make you laugh, or jump into another with people who care about my wellbeing and talk out the hard stuff going on around. I can honestly saying being able to take to Social Media when I felt so alone was not only helpful, but very fruitful.

I guess before this I used to Social Media pretty loosely, I wasn’t anti-social media, just didn’t use it as often as I do now. Or as effectively, really. Using Social Media is a bit of a skill unto itself, whether it’s learning how to make a Page or finding out how you turn off the wacky video filter, there’s often a curve, some that you didn’t know existed until you really started to use the tool for things other than posting pics of the kiddos and saying hi to grandma who just got here. The truth is you can learn to do just about anything via the internet these days, and a lot of that stuff you learned can be used someway online. We have a lot of options for outlets these days, which is crazy cool, but as previously looked at, comes with it’s own Option Paralysis. Yes, I can learn anything, but what anything do I start with?

My journey for using social media more effectively came when I had the opportunity to start a podcast with my pals. Really it was a passion project and was a lot of fun, we had no ideas of big time fame from it or anything it was something fun and funny to do with a couple of my great pals and we just went from there. What happened is it gained some traction, people were actually listening each week. Mind you it wasn’t crazy numbers or anything, but hundreds of people would listen each week. I had created a Page for it to promote when episodes came out, but ended up cruising the page multiple times a day to interact with fans of the podcast. I had promoted other projects online before, but this one by far started the most conversations. It was nice that people liked it and were listening, but it was awesome to be able to have conversations with them over it outside of the podcast too!

Needless to say through projects of my own and helping friends setup their own projects as well, I can honestly say I got pretty good at it. The setup at least, I’m still learning about the “numbers” game in the algorithm, but having a ton of followers isn’t really the goal. I like throwing things out there and interacting with people over it. Whether is a dank meme a friend dropped in my eyeholes and I laughed so hard I had to repost it a few times, or sharing a thought or feeling with everyone and talking about it with them. I think there’s a lot of value in that, not just to those who use Social Media for business. It truly gives us a place to find something to belong to. That concept doesn’t always work out, seeing as it works for white supremacists and terrorists alike, but as with any tool it can be used for good or ill.

Mainly I think most people take to it each day to not only be entertained or distracted, but to observe or if your a total social whore like myself, to interact. I say that after coming off a period of not being on social media as often, but there’s still plenty to do each day in the “real” world. I just happen to have more impromptu free time these days, there’s always something to be done.

On that note I feel grateful for the little breaks from the grind. I’m fortunate enough to be in a situation where my basic needs are met without any massive stressor at the moment. It’s times like this I get more introspective for a bit. I’m trying to turn that outward more. My thoughts are not very organized as you can see, but I hope if you’re reading this, some of these points hit home.

Are you a social person?

Do you find any value in Social Media, or Social Interaction in general?

What do you do when you’re lonely?