Social Media Slavery?

I begin this with a caveat; I've been thinking about this a lot recently because I have been excluded from Facebook for what appears to be forevermore...

The strange thing I noticed was somewhat disturbing...

Now, I am a smoker but one that is conscious that he is addicted to a substance that is not necessary for - is actually detrimental to - his continued existence. I know what addiction pangs feel like when one's poison is even temporarily denied.

I was feeling this same anxiety and what I call 'the twitches' when denied access to Facebook. I felt that something was missing and was quite keen to get back to that shared social space. I was even somewhat apathetic towards alternative media sources and also despondent in its absence.

I actually found that I no longer knew what to do with my free time...

A Surprising Truth

To date, 3.5 Billion people, or 45% of the world's population use some for of Social Media daily. Of that number a massive 68% use Facebook daily, spending an average of three hours a day (that they admit to) on that or other social media sources.

That is quite significant and, owing to ease of access through mobile devices, we would guess that the figure is a little higher when it comes to time spent.

Add to that figure that 54% of people use social media to research products and services they consider using and 49% of consumers rely on or make use of Social Media Influencer opinion and recommendations and we see that it outranks all other sources of interest and opinion.

People, it would appear, live their lives in that virtual space.

Don't get me started on Influencers either, it's a funny way to get famous isn't it? Let's leave it there.

"Ok, Boomer" the chorus of inaccurate ironic apathy resounds.

A Necessary Evil

We, as artists aspiring to fame and recognition must have a social media presence, there is no escaping it. We need to;