I don’t get social media

I don’t have a Twitter, and I’m not entirely sure I want to acquire one.

Not out of any strong statement against mainstream culture, but just because I don’t understand why I have to let everyone know how my day is going.

It’s a day. It’s going. I’ve even managed to remain relatively unattached to my phone.

I don’t check in on Facebook all that often, I don’t have a Tumblr I could update and the max amount of people I’ll text throughout the course of the day is maybe five.

Which means I’m always taken aback by some people’s strong attachment to their social outlets. I, to the eternal frustration of my friends, fail to understand the nuances of these same social outlets.

Someone could post something on Facebook practically screaming at me and I would not receive the message until a week later and not understand who it was about.

I value face-to-face conversation more. I’ve always thought if someone wanted to see you and hear about you, they’d find a way to make time for you.

But, the more the world changes, the more I think I might have to plug into social media outlets, if only to let people know I’m still alive.

Even though I’m absolutely terrible at communicating via my phone and computer, they’re still important. As if they’re not already relevant enough, they’re becoming tools that everyone relies on.

The world is a technological one, and we have all of these tools that we’ve invented to help us advance and learn.

While the constant updating and flow of information makes me just the tiniest bit uncomfortable — why in the world would anyone want to know how I did on a math test and vice versa, I mean, really? — I know it’s useful.

Essentially, while I don’t get social media, I’ll have to become a part of it.

Someday. If I’m honest, it might or might not be because I’m technologically handicapped. I just figured out text messaging.

Right now, though, I think I’ll stick to what I’ve got.

Maybe later it will become a strong statement against the use of the Internet and how big corporations are taking control of our lives or some such clichéd trope.

Right now, I just don’t feel like plugging in.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu