Happy World Social Media Day. 💛

Social media, or socAIl media?

Eleven years doing this, and that question is the one keeping me up.

I still love this craft more than the day I started. Which is exactly why I worry about where it is heading.

So here is my wish.

What I want social media to be

I want social to be many things at once. A place to learn and to grow. To trade ideas in healthy exchange, to stay informed without losing your critical mind. A place for kindness, for inspiration, for meeting people you would never have crossed paths with otherwise.

Where you can be yourself, to some extent, without having to be perfect first.

Why countries are deciding kids should log off

Because right now, country after country is deciding it is no longer safe enough for the young to stay.

Australia was first, banning it for under-16s last December. Indonesia followed in March. And the wave is growing, with the UK, France, Denmark, Norway and Spain all preparing to draw the same line.

And maybe that is not a loss. Maybe it is a good thing that children get to be children again. That the bullying no longer follows them into their pockets. That the weight of having to stand out stops chasing their innocence. That the addiction does not restrain their creativity.

To those of us who stay

So to those of us who stay, here is what I hold on to.

Social may rhyme with animal, but it does not have to favour those instincts. An algorithm should not decide how you behave, how you react, how you think. And too many of them now reward the drama and the fake over the real.

May the imperfection of real humans win over the vacuity of perfection that influencers sell as a world of class. Leave that polish for television. Social was never meant to be a magazine cover.

And may social media stay just that. Real people, real voices, not machines talking to machines.

When it works, this place is messy and warm and true.

Imperfect is I’m Perfect. Depends how positively you read it.

Why I’d choose this again

Almost 11 years ago, I left web development to do this. To swap code for people. And even now, with all my worries about where it is going, I would make that choice again every single time.

Smile. Create. Inspire. 💛
Take Care,
Your fav Social Media Manager
(Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow)