January | 2014 | Don't Blink

Many times my friends will question me like this: “Hey! Have you looked at the Snap I sent you yet?” Or “Why haven’t you responded on Facebook?” Or sometimes “Did you see what _______ posted underneath your Instagram photo?”

I get these types of inquiries so much that I basically respond with my standard text of “Sorry, let me go look real fast.” I then open up whatever social media service I have unfinished business on, look/respond/delete whatever issue my friend alerted me to, and then follow up with them via another text.

Many of you might be surprised to know this about me, but I don’t subscribe to Facebook, Instagram, or Snap Chat iPhone notifications on my personal accounts. For my readers out there without iPhones that means I don’t get alerted, buzzed, or notified when someone interacts with me (i.e. likes/tags/messages/etc.) on these services. Additionally, on the menu pages of my iPhone I don’t have little numbers at the corners of the icons telling me how many notifications I have.

Now I know this might come as a shock to some of you considering I work very closely with and I have a strong passion for social media but let me just quickly explain and I am sure you will understand.

Handling social media for Grizzly Athletics is a 24/7 job all in itself. Besides posting intriguing content and giving our fans access they can’t get anywhere else, I also have to serve as the best customer service rep possible. In order to do that, I make sure to answer the numerous inquiries from fans we receive on a daily basis through all of our social media outlets. Because this is the job I get paid to do, Griz fans will get a quicker response from me than my Facebook friends will. To minimize a complete overload, I turn off my personal notifications while keeping my work related notifications on.

Secondly, I kind of like the element of surprise when I open up my Facebook, Instagram, or Snap Chat account. Although I do without external notifications, I do get a bit of a thrill when I get the notifications inside the service itself. Call me weird, but I like guessing how many (if any) notifications I will have. It is fun opening up Facebook and seeing that you have a couple friend requests, a few messages, and six notifications. Conversely, it is disappointing when I log in after a half day and have nothing. But I much prefer getting my interactions all at once after a little time has passed rather than getting notified about each single one in real time via text alerts and notifications on my iPhone menu.

Just a couple points. During the work day
I am obviously logged on Facebook the whole time from my desktop office computer so I do receive my personal stuff up to the second during those hours. I don’t want to make it seem like I am completely disconnected from my personal Facebook page when in reality I am on it very consistently during the day. Also, I do receive all Twitter notifications (replies, mentions, direct messages, and even tweets of others) directly to my phone. Twitter is a service that I feel is both manageable and important for me to keep tabs on 24/7 from a personal level so I am constantly engaged with it.

So if you see that I haven’t opened your Snap or you don’t know why I haven’t responded to your Instagram post within the first couple minutes, don’t take it personally. I will get to it eventually, with 99% of the time it being sooner rather than later. Sometimes even a person obsessed with social media has to take small measures to keep himself sane. Don’t Blink.

Last night I breezed through Facebook and Instagram and read many statuses from my friends summarizing 2013. First thing I noticed? I think more people should take up a blog like me! Numerous friends of mine composed novels about this past year on social media. Both Facebook and Instagram seemed to have never ending block paragraphs about 2013. The second thing I noticed? It seemed like a high percentage of the people I connect with on these social outlets had a pretty miserable year. Many friends shook their fists at 2013 and held nothing back regarding their joy that the end of the calendar year was very near.

With this last slew of negative posts and with 2014 now upon us, it has inspired me to offer a special new year’s resolution for all of us regarding social media: Be positive. In 2014, I think we should strive to post much more positively on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Let’s resist the urge to criticize, whine, complain, cry out, and hold pity parties.

First off and most importantly, this resolution is worth striving for on an individual basis. If we feel crummy and angry, I think posting about it on social media just magnifies these feelings. It makes us dwell on unpleasant circumstances. Now I know some might say that airing out your every emotion can serve a therapeutic purpose but I call hogwash on that theory when directly applying to social media. Using no filter to freely list our shortcomings, insecurities, and disappointments is very counterproductive. Not only does it drive home the bad feelings we are experiencing even more, it portrays us as unconfident and weak to others. I strongly encourage a journal or a trusting friend to serve as your venting outlet.

Secondly, this resolution is worth striving for on a communal basis as well. Let’s face it, when there is a negative person in a work place or on a team, it impacts everyone. Same goes for online groups as well. Many of us do so much to make sure our own personal psyche is right, the last thing we need is to let the outside negativity of others get in our heads. Even if we don’t directly notice it, depressing and angry posts can subconsciously sidetrack us. As a courtesy to others, we really should do all we can to cut down on producing negative social media content.

Just because I am challenging all of us to cut down on social media negativity, I am not advocating that everyone should post five overly happy Facebook posts and send out ten “high on life” tweets a day. Those people can be just as annoying as the negative users. I am just saying that if you want to post something and you can choose between a negative experience or a positive experience, go with the positive experience. If you only have a negative experience, refrain from posting.

Regarding daily life in general, we should all strive to be more positive in 2014. Obviously this will trickle down and reflect in our social media activity. But if we can’t reach that goal right away, let’s start small with social media. Let’s do ourselves and others a big favor and cut out the negativity when posting to our favorite social outlets. It will make a difference. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Monthly Archives: January 2014