Reply To: [unofficial weekender] Social media is bad. Or is it?

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Always a relief to see another thread at the weekend! I just that one day it’ll simply dry up and we won’t notice until the following Wednesday and then it’ll be too late to recover 🙂

For what it’s worth, I’ve had a completely hobby-free weekend so far. I went to a family “thing” in Brum, but to make it bearable for both my wife and I (neither of us particularly wanted to go) I booked us into The Pig Place camping site in Oxford on the way home. It’s brilliant.

A campsite on a working small-holding. With a canal running along the bottom of the grounds. And pigs and chickens that roam freely across the site. On hot days (like we’re currently experiencing in the UK) when people leave their camper van doors and windows open (with just mosquito nets and curtains for privacy) it’s not unusual to wake up with a chicken in your van (or a pig truffling around through your footwells). As the sun goes down, we all sit around campfires on “outdoor settees” and then the music begins. It’s been brilliant.

Now I’m home, I decided to use my remaining few hours of the weekend to change the FEP on my Anycubic Mono 4k.
Only to release you can’t just change the film – you have to buy a completely fitted film and tank “ring” as a single unit.
So that’s as much “hobby” as I’ve got done this week – I dismantled my printing vat.

Onto the questions:

• What other social media platforms do you use?

I use Facepage and Twitter. And of course Youtube.

 

• How do you use them?

Usually by clicking on a few icons 😉
In all seriousness, I use Facebook and Twitter like “brain crisps”. You know when you just fancy something but you know it’s not “proper food”? You might just want a change of taste in your mouth or something? That’s what I use them for – if I’m working on something (especially if it requires Hard Thinking) I’ll often just do a bit of doom-scrolling to clear my brain.
For Youtube, it’s mostly guitar tutorials, magic tricks, chess, and miniature painting. Youtube is great for both entertainment and learning stuff. But, jeez, stay clear of those comments sections!

I use social media to get something from it, but try not to engage (too much).
On the basis that most people – unless I know them personally – are probably idiots, there’s no point.
You wouldn’t try to teach a labrador about quadratic equations; some things just don’t deserve too much time investing in them.

• What do you like about them?

I get to find out what’s going on. I long ago gave up on using them to inform or educate or (worst of all) trying to find either news, or (worthwhile) opinions on any topic. They’re absolutely dreadful for that. But if there’s a jam night on locally, or a special offer in a local eatery, there’s a chance I’ll find out about it on one of Facebook or Twitter.
I like that I can whip out my phone while the kettle is boiling, and decide if I’m going to need to re-string my guitar that afternoon for a gig in the evening, or if it can wait and I can stay home in front of the gogglebox/computer.
I like that Youtube has more or less replaced normal telly for me.
I still like that it curates content for me (here’s stuff we think you’d like). But it feels far less passive than just gawping at a box in the corner of the room (the downside, of course, is that you then miss out on the shared experience of lots of other people all watching the same stuff).

And, of course, Youtube gives us music.

There was a strong folky-vibe at The Pig Place last night. So I played lots of Americana/country. This one had the whole place not only cheering, but asking for it again and again. Having thirty or so well-oiled bikers bellowing “play that drinking one again!” was quite flattering – if not a little intimidating too!