Social Media

Asking all of you to go on to social media to see my art sometimes feels a bit like asking you to go into an art gallery filled with second hand smoke to see my art.  Sure: You'll get to see some (hopefully) cool things but you'll have to endure some yucky stuff along the way.  I say this because this is what it sometimes feels like for me whenever I go on to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even YouTube.  The addictive nature of these platforms is, I believe, well documented (I probably should cite sources here).  I'm sure I'm not alone in acknowledging that I've gotten lost down one rabbit hole or another while mindlessly scrolling only to "wake up" and be surprised at how much time has passed by.  On top of this, there's a non-stop barrage of advertising to suffer through in order to get to the stuff that brings me to these various platforms in the first place.  I don't feel great about subjecting myself to all of this and I certainly don't feel great about all of you potentially suffering through it on my behalf.  This is why I started this blog.  I wanted to find another way to express myself that is hopefully healthier for all of us.

Having said all this, I do want to acknowledge that I've had some really positive experiences with social media since I joined Facebook back in 2008.  I've met some great people, reconnected with old friends and learned some interesting, useful and inspiring things:

1. It was through my personal Instagram account that I met some friends who were, like me, passionate about running and those friendships led to the creation of a running club in Howell, Michigan (The Howell Underground Running Team).

2. When I started my artist Instagram account, I decided that I'd only follow other artists and art themed accounts.  I believed that this would help me see things that would be artistically inspiring to me.  It has done this for me.

3. It was through Facebook that I first learned about The Minimalists and their inspiring documentary, Minimalism: A Documentary about the Important Things.  I could go on and on about how they have inspired me.

As you might guess by now, I'm feeling a little conflicted about my use of technology.  I want all of the good stuff and none of the bad.  I wish the same for you.

While I'm not quitting social media, I am going to step away from it for the month of September.  This decision is inspired by a book I read a short time ago called Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport .  The intent of this "break" is to turn down the noise that these platforms bring into my life, to get back in touch with some of the things that are important to me and to get clearer about how it is that I want to spend my most valuable resources: my time and attention.  I've been doing this every September for the past 3-4 years or so.  I chose this month because it coincides with the start of the school year which is a time when I want to focus on planning lessons, organizing my classroom and getting to know my new students.

During my time away, in addition to getting the school year off to a great start, I'll spend time reading, writing and making art.  

Once my month-long experiment is over, I'll step back on some of what I stepped off of with, I hope, more intentionality.  There may be some things that I won't bring back into my life at all (I've been off Twitter since April already and I may never go back).  Perhaps I'll report back at some point on what I learned during my time away.

If you're interested in joining me for this, or some version of this, month long experience I'd love to hear back from you about how it all went for you.

In the meantime, here's some art for you to look at:

Lyme
June, 2022
Digial image created with the Sketchbook app

This drawing was my first post on my artist IG account
(I have a thing for stars!)

New Bug 7 28 2024 Color - Work in progress
Digital image created with the Sketchbook app

I'm having a lot of fun with this one!
It's part of my "Stranger" series.

Stranger Robot (Tentative Title) - Work in progress
Started 7/5/2024
9x12
Pencil and marker