Sunday, July 31, 2016

Instagram vs. Facebook + a Challenge

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.   Well, actually, it is more of a like/hate relationship. I find myself constantly on the verge of completing deleting my account, especially lately.  I enjoy re-connecting with old friends, keeping up with friends and family,  and the easy access to information about scheduled events in which I participate.  But, I despise the bombardment of advertising, the plethora of erroneous information that is presented as good and true and the political posts of friends, regardless of which way they lean.  I sometimes hide the posts of FB friends who are particularly offensive, but more often than not, I just scroll past many posts, looking for someone's vacation pictures or news about my next workout or high school reunion.   I am a bit "old-school" in thinking that political opinions and such are private matters and a dissenting post by a friend on Facebook is not going to change anybody's mind about an issue---in fact, it generally does just the opposite by making them even more set on their own opinion.  (And it certainly makes me less likely to read anything they post at all).

Therefore, I find myself enjoying Instagram more and more as my primary social media platform.   Because it is visually based, there is not a lot of room for ugly political posts or arguments between people.  I know some exist, but they are generally limited to comments of strangers that are hidden from my day-to-day view.

On Instagram, I can view family vacation photos of friends, keep up with what's going on--from the ordinary to the adventure, and even find inspiring photos and quotes.  I can choose who to follow and who follows me, and I find myself inspired to see the beauty rather than the ugliness in this world.  There are no advertisements on Instagram (at least not yet), yet if I feel inclined to purchase something pictured, most websites are easily accessible through comments and hashtags.  I do try to protect the privacy of my young grandchildren, and rarely post their faces without the express permission of their parents.  I also try to never post a location when a child's face is showing because you just never know.  Recently, I have had a couple of spam comments or "likes" on one of my photos, but as soon as I notice them, I block them from my account to try to keep things safe.

And speaking of Instagram, toomorrow is the first day of August (how is that even possible??) and it is time for a new photo Challenge.  August is hot in this part of the country, and in many cases, school begins in just a few short days.  For me, August brings the first day of my official retirement and I hope there will be a few fun adventures in store for me, and you as well.  If you'd like to give this a try, simply post a photo each day and label it with the hashtag listed below.  (I generally click on the photo below and choose to save it to my phone so that I have it readily available when I forget that day's prompt)   Some days, the prompts are easy and I immediately see a way to capture it, but other days are more difficult and I have to play catch-up a few days later once inspiration strikes.  That's the nice thing about this challenge---it really doesn't matter.  :-)

If you are new here and you'd like to play along, leave me a comment below with your Instagram name so that I can follow you.  Your photos might just be the inspiration that I need to complete that day's challenge!

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