Looking for the Carp

Seize the carp! Or the day! Or the moment! Anything that will help make this life of yours richer, filled with love, and acceptance of yourself. This is my little journey to always be on the look out for that carp, grabbing it, and never letting go. This is the only life we have and it's too short for what ifs and maybe laters!

Wednesday 23 January 2013

15th Carp- Social Media

Hello. My name is Michelle, and I am a social media junkie. 

I have had this post in mind to write for many, many months. However, with going back to school and returning to the life of teaching, homework assignments and marking, unfortunately my blog was shoved to the back burner. Actually, probably the farthest burner on a fictional 18 burner stove. 

But during this time, I have been able to keep up with my other social media outlets such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with enthusiasm and vigor. 

Twitter is a new found favourite since going on maternity leave. I never fully understood its purpose until then. With long nights waking at absurd times, I was able to dedicate some energy into really giving it a shot. Now I love it. I enjoy being able to get up to the minute deals from favourite companies, get insider information on giveaways, and receive chuckles from @firstworldproblems, @theonion and @thegoogleimages tweets. 

Then there is facebook, an oldie but a goodie. I've been facebooking since 2007 so this is a social media that I know well. I can follow, like, friend and post with the best of them. However, I have been catapulted into an understanding of how powerful a social networking tool this is. I have created friendships with people all over the world based on common interests. With facebook, I now participate in the Art Abandonment Project, which has artists leave artwork for other people to find, and the Diaper Fairy Project, which is a charity dedicated to giving cloth diapers to other mothers. 

Last but not least, Instagram. I absolutely adore Instagram. It combines my love of photography, traveling, social networking and media all in one wonderful little ap. I get daily photos of far off places I would like to visit and follow Instagrammers who are located in my favourite cities such as New York.  I can see new products from work at home mothers, companies from across the globe and review pictures from my go-to bloggers. Not to mention that I get to share my own existance, experiences and thoughts with anyone else who wishes to follow me or who stumble across my photos by looking through #hashtags. 

But why dedicate all this time to social media you might ask? This is the most frequent question I get from those who do not tweet, facebook, or instagram. Although I enjoy it for the above reasons, it comes down to making my mark on the cyber world. Once I am dead and gone, and those who know me have also passed, what I have uploaded and shared digitally will be the only way I can communicate who I was, what I was passionate about, and believed in to great great grand children who come after me. 

For an historian, this is not just fun but also has incredible potential for future generations. I mean, I have the ability to communicate directly and tell my story to people I will never meet. 

I have a fantasy that when we hit 2113, elementary children will be asked to do a family tree project where they have to present a relative, no longer living, to the class. I believe by then, most (if not all) of my private content and all of my public content would be easily accessible to my great, great,great grandchild. I envision he or she presenting this passionate woman who loved her family, was an artist, a dedicated teacher and who lived in New Brunswick. I, with great glee, also see them showing actual pictures that I took and quoting my thoughts and feelings to the rest of their class. 

I mean, Benjamin Franklin said it best: 

If you want to be remembered forever, either do things worth remembering or write things worth reading. 

I am doing my best to leave a mark worth remembering. 

I am Michelle, and I am addicted to social media. 

You can follow me on twitter @mlangstandring or on instagram @mlstandring 










What's your carp? 

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