This morning while I was feeding Bagas, our youngest son, my husband posed me a question that stroke me, “Why do you often Tweet and Facebooking? And recently, Path?” He continued “Do you know that you and all other people are sort of being “abused” or “terjajah” by social media tycoons? Your and other people’s life are ruled by them, somehow. You need to post every morning only mentioning that you are awake. And then post again every evening to say that you are sleeping. Don’t you find it funny sometimes?” He smiled and ending his statement by saying “Do you know how much fortune they have made just by having you lot register as their followers? And you dear, what have you made out of it?”
It stroke me because I don’t really have a good answer to argue him back and somehow, deep inside my heart, I also kind of agree on his thought. I am not a big fan of social media although, I have to admit, I have signed up in so many social media account. You name it. Twitter, Facebook, Path, Instagram, Whatsapp, LINE, even the oldies version of social media such as Plurk and Friendster. Yikes, seeing the list made me realize how “silly” I am. I am following things that are perceived to be the latest trend on Earth, for what? So people don’t stamp me as “gaptek lady”? So I can be “friends” with many people? What about my real friends? How many have you seen face to face or by phone? I started to realize how often I am “trapped” in my own world called social media. Instead of having a warm conversation with my husband in the evening, or accompanying my kids drawing something they like, or call my old friend just to say hi, I spend most of my spare time posting pictures such as food or jokes on socmed.
For what?
I have to admit (again), I post things because I expect people to give comments on my post or emoticons. I am happy when people respond to my post. But then again, I question myself, is that what I call REAL happiness? Are they genuinely like your post or just show a form of “basa basi” because they feel bad if nobody post in your comments? What about the people that are physically around you? Your children who are in bed waiting for you to turn off your cellphone and start reading them bedtime stories, how have you treated them so far?
Why do you put a status of what you are doing? This one, I don’t have the answer as I almost never put a status on what I am doing in Facebook. But then again, people are different and we should appreciate that. For me, I do feel that I want to shy away from Twitter et. al for a bit. I think it will make my life happier. However, it is your choice either to be involved or not involved (or at least not heavily involved like me!) in social media paradigm. You are the one who has the power to set your own limit, not your friends or followers.
At least just remember, whenever you want to tweet or update your status, do it wisely and bare the risk. And also try to do the traditional things sometimes, send birthday cards by post, it is fun!
bacanya: jleb.. jlebb jleebb...!! hahahha soalnya pernah dibilang hal yang sama oleh suami. Tapi saya termasuk bisa kontrol diri juga kalo sudah sama anak. lebih seru liat dia lagi belajar berdiri. hehehehe..
ide kirim2an kartu nya seruuu... mo kirim kartu ucapan ultah buat sahabat yang mau ultah aah...
TFS ya mba Andini..
anyway, sstt... saya jg (pernah)punya friendster, plurk, myspace, fb, twitter, instagram, LINE, whatsapp, dan path lho. hahahahaha..
@Seymour Magabe: xixixi... saya jg koq mba, masih hobi retweet atau share post punya orang, tosss :)
@Bunda MedinaMecca: sama-sama Mom.. Iyaa.. aku jg rencananya mau ngajak anak-anak kirim kartu ke kantor pos. Kartunya mau coba bikin dr hasil gambar anak2 hehehe... :)
@Zata Ligouw: sama-sama Zata.. it's a self reminder for me actually but happy to know that people read it, many thanks :) I agree, in certain cases, social media is the best mean of communication instead of using snail mail for example hehe. Wah hebat... msh suka kirim ucapan pake kartu, jd inget senengnya milih2 kartu di toko buku sampe bingung mau yg mana :)
@rikandun: wah iyaa lupa, kayanya aku jg punya tuh account myspace *gubraaak!* tp kalau mig33 baru denger hehehe... sama-sama.. artikel ini buat ngingetin diri sendiri jg spy ga over expose myself yang artis aja bukan wkwkwk :))
@kanahayaku: iyaa.. mari kita kembalikan budaya sahabat pena hehehe... temenku kemarin bales kirim balik kartu pos ke aku and iya ternyata beda excitementnya hehehe :)
Great article Andini.., thank you..
kalo buat gw, sosial media itu jadi sarana buat kerja (krn kerjaan gw ckp berhub dng digital media) dan berinteraksi dengan teman atau kenalan yang memang jauh bgt. Bisa sih kirim lewat pos, but if i have more than 50 friends, honestly, it's very time (and money) consuming.. eh, tapi kalo ada temen deket yang ultah, pasti bentuknya kartu ucapan beneran lho, ngga via socmed hehehe..
yup, setuju bgt, kita emang harus bijak dalam menggunakan semua platform sosial media itu, pakai seperlunya dan ngga perlu berlebihan..
wah jadi ingat, jaman SMP pernah punya hobi filateli karena ber-sahabatpena-an..hehe.
kalo ada waktu, mau ngenalin kantor pos ah ke anak2. TFS ya mom :)