Social Media -- Old School

I'm noticing a bit of a shift on social media. While many still use different social media platforms to connect and share news (both personal and business), many others are looking to abandon it or are in search of newer, less populated forums. They mention political division or privacy as their main reasons for wanting to leave their current forums. I know that some have already left, some will leave, and still others will continue on because they crave the connection and drama that social media allows them. It seems that they enjoy sharing their views as much as they distain the views of others.

Personally, I'm more in favor of the personal discipline of choosing who to follow and when to respond to or ignore certain posts, although I think I'd get along quite well without most of what is published. I have around 300 followers on two of the platforms I use -- Facebook and Twitter, and just over 200 on Instagram. I follow more accounts on Twitter and Instagram than I have followers. 
My Facebook followers have increased (much to my dismay) over the past couple of years, mostly from being a part of The Venues Church. There are a number of friends that I enjoying hearing from, but I mostly stay on for the forums on motorcycles, cigars, retirement, community activity, and the live video streams from The Venues.
My Instagram account has a bunch of bot followers and I should probably change my privacy settings.
I probably use my Twitter account the most. I use it for news and to follow authors, pastors, politicians, news personalities, athletes, etc. I also subscribe to a number of news outlets and get more news through those connections than from watching TV news.

In so many ways social media has seemed to drive us farther apart rather than bringing us together. We substitute a post on Facebook for a conversation with a friend. We say things on online forums that we would never say in person and we use forums to bully and criticize people we don't even know.
As much as social media has helped us stay in touch during this pandemic, it has also isolated us from many of the personal contacts that were once important to us. 

I will continue to hold on to my current forums (although I have already made changes in how I use them and how often I use them), but for today I think I'll go old school -- I think I'll make a phone call or two and maybe even write a letter. That's more my social speed, anyway.

John