No Title Goes Here

I’ve run out of things to say. Not really. Maybe it’s that I’ve run out of the desire to say them–at least on-line.

Is it my imagination or has the internet become a lot noisier lately? Seems like everyone has some deal, some thing, some better-than-before idea they’re promoting.

I try to read them. Try to take them seriously. But after a while, it just becomes noise and I shut down.

I guess I’m missing a lot because these groups and gatherings and sparkling new ventures are certainly going on very well without me.

I hope they’re going on well. I hope my virtual friends and acquaintances are thriving. I just don’t want to hear about it quite so constantly.

I subscribe by email to the blogs of friends I read. So their latest post is delivered to my email box. But then they announce it via Facebook. And via the several private FB groups I have joined. If said post is taken by Huffington Post, then I have to hear about it from them. And via Twitter . And Google+.

It’s too much, my friends. Social media has birthed a monster with this ability to endlessly promote the shit out of every scrappy idea. Let’s have a little bit of hush. Let’s let a few of those ideas ferment into a fine wine…or show themselves to be just plain vinegar.

I’m tuning out. I’m ending my participation in FB and G+. I’m climbing off the promotion ferris wheel. I’m going to think…quietly…for a while.

Tagged as: blogging, social media

  • joanna jenkins

    Good for you, Jane!

    I don’t FB and I don’t like or use G+ and I STILL get too much junk, promos and duplicates of so much of it to the point that I feel like I’m constantly being shouted at. It’s kinda boring and more than annoying.

    A hush is a good thing…

    jj

    PS I can’t comment via your Google button below. It keeps bumping me to Disque and asking me to re-register. fyi

  • Donna

    I have a small but loyal following on my blog. I’ve struggled this year with productivity, but I don’t want to quit because knowing someone will read it keeps me writing. Blogging is social media, I guess, but I have bypassed Twitter and FB. If that means fewer readers, so be it. I’m glad you are not shutting down the site, and I hope you will come back to writing because you know what they say … a writer writes.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      I’m not only not shutting down the site, but I’m not shutting down my writing, Donna. Quite the opposite. You’re right; a writer writes and she writes to know what she thinks. I’m working on a followup post that speaks to your comment.

  • Rose

    I know what you mean – as a shameless promoter. Well, we’re told to use facebook and twitter, so we do…but it does get wearying!

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Rose, I think we have to think about who it is that we’re following–and are they someone who has our best interests at heart. Actually, we have to figure out what those best interests are; at least I do.

  • Chris

    Have a great vacation! (Hoping that means its temporary.)

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      No vacation, Chris. You are all stuck with me!

  • Barbara Cutting

    So true … a cacophony … and I’m on the fence about all of it, have been for awhile. As one with a baby blog and a teeny, tiny voice … I struggle with the desire to write and the feeling that I really have nothing of any import to say … maybe to anyone but myself. In one recent post I asked if a writer needed readers in order to be a writer. A question I ponder often since almost no one reads what I write. I don’t really feel regret about that fact, but I can get in a gung-ho mood once in awhile where I promote my blog posts on Twitter (only) … I don’t know how to do all that other Facebook, G+ stuff in all those other places … because … oh, I don’t know, maybe because I need some validation sometimes. An audience reading gives validation. So I struggle. Anyway, I understand how you feel … but I thank you too – for being the first person to give public voice to my words. Peace, jane.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Barbara… Writing, be it blogging or not, is essentially a communication. As such, it demands an audience, which is why we all are so eager to get comments. I think the dicey part for me is when the things I do to publish my end of the communication–the FB and G+, etc stuff–starts taking precedence over the actual writing. It’s a constant battle to keep centered on my goals.

  • http://chloeofthemountain.com/ Chloe

    This post made me feel so sad. I do understand. I took the first half of 2012 off and came back feeling much stronger and more focused. I hope some time away from it will wash the stress of it all away.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      I’m dismayed that this post made you feel sad, Chloe. It must have touched something in you that took you back to your own life at the beginning of 2012. Rest assured that I’m not going anywhere.

  • Mark

    Don’t know if you’re still reading my blog. You’re certainly excused if you aren’t. ;) But last week I started a new blogging effort devoted to self publishing. I posted something there yesterday that had been written by somebody else. It was a list of all the different ways to promote your book, meaning primarily social media. I objected to some of it without saying what I really meant which you’ve hit on here. Saturating social media venues can only go so far before people start tuning out. Thanks for saying it the way I should have.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Mea culpa, Mark. I’ll go read it now because I’m writing a follow-up to this post and it sounds as if we’re on the same wave length.

  • borderless broad

    You know, Janet…this is a very brave move on your part and one I echo in my own thoughts often and then go into “inner conflict” about “being out there” vs. becoming a 100% fanatical mystic that goes silent, wordless, and mindless for the most part. I dream of simply communing with the stars and animals and playing my didgeridoo (a new and very calming experience). Having spent the last 6 months on Whidbey Island, I did indeed dream more, listen more, and watch the ferry go in and out from Seattle (a mindless and so restful activity) and I felt more peace. I do love to write and talk with women about all manner of things so I just cannot seem to “drop quiet” completely, but you are so right, the frenetic promotional, social media life takes me and I think most of us further from ourselves than ever. My own ability to sense the essence of things and clarity before acting or just living well requires quiet and the absence of non-stop complexity. Thanks for modeling the option to “go quiet”!

    Morgana Morgaine

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Morgana, I’m not sure what the “brave move” is that you’re applauding here. I have no intention of “going quiet” in any major way. It’s the social media promotion that I’m questioning and I’m working on a follow up post about just that.

  • http://www.agingabundantly.com/ Dorothy Sander

    I totally hear you! I find myself slipping away as well, to quieter places where more meaningful conversations take place. The sound bites are making us all deaf without giving us sustenance. I have been guilty as well, an outgrowth of slower times when what I said and did seemed to matter. As more and more people climb on board it all has become watered down. I long for a quiet corner of cyberspace where like minded folks gather, drink a little coffee or a glass of wine and share what’s really on their hearts and minds. I’ve come to think that’s the best way to approach what we do. We don’t have to talk with everyone. We don’t have to be heard by everyone. As we continue to live our message or our purpose from the inside out, those who hear and those we hear are all that really matter. Thanks Janet, for voicing something that has been on my heart and mind for some time.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Dorothy, I love the idea of a quiet corner of cyberspace where we could gather, and I’m tempted to try and create that on Google+.

      • http://www.agingabundantly.com/ Dorothy Sander

        I’ve thought of G+ too but I haven’t taken the time to figure out the hang out thing. Let me know if you do.

  • http://www.blog.lisaweldon.com/about lisaweldon

    No different than in real life. Those who talk just to be heard get tuned out. Those quiet ones, the ones who speak only when they have something good to say, always get heard.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Oh gosh, Lisa, I wish you were right. My experience is not nearly so positive.

  • http://www.weightchronicles.com/ Kay Lynn

    I know what you mean. I want to connect with others but there are so many groups and networks it gets overwhelming. So, I’m kinda on the outside of all of them.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      It’s overwhelming and seductive at the same time, Kay Lynn.

  • Susan Bonifant

    It does get noisy. I know I lay low from time to time; pick a day when I can read thoughtfully or browse but leave it out there the rest of the time. I can’t blame people for promoting – I do it too – but we can control the onslaught. I hope you’ll be back. You were the first forum I found that hosted posts like the ones I write and it’s been great to feel associated with you. You do some truly good work for a lot of people.

    • http://midlifebloggers.com janegassner

      Thanks, Susan, for commiserating. I’m not stopping MidLifeBloggers, so continue to send me posts that I can put up. I’m just retreating from the social media whirl. I find that it was taking up so much of my time and my writing was an afterthought.

      • Deborah Lonergan

        I’ll miss you, Jane.

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