Hope for Humanity

I recently posted on Facebook regarding an event we are planning. I post a lot of stuff on Facebook. This specific post focused on a real life event with actual face-to-face interactions. It got far more “engagement” than any other recent post. This data says a lot but I am not sure what to do about it.

Despite being constantly plugged-in, we are still interested in and searching for opportunities to interact in real life. Maybe, in order to find ways to unplug, we have to be completely plugged-in. I have some rather pessimistic views regarding the deterioration of our communities. Maybe, healthy communities still exist and are as vibrant as they ever were. They are just different than they used to be. Social media is the newspaper, radio and the television all rolled into one. This monopoly of information allows abuses but it still facilitates connection. We can easily find out when things are happening in our local areas and we still desire to show up.

Social media is a great tool for delivering information. Maybe, social media is simply a new iteration of old fashioned marketing. Maybe, the whole thing is a scam to bleed dry every musician and artist that is stupid enough to try and promote their art on the platform. There are a lot of predators and bad guys lurking in the shadows but we have always had bad guys in the world. Maybe, it can be an efficient vehicle for talking about all the stuff on which I am working. I think social media is essentially a curated collection of all the things that are important to us as a global culture.

As an introverted hermit, I don’t get out much. This is far from the best approach to being a performer. I deliver most of my work to the virtual world. I have justified my methods with the notion that because people are so plugged-in, the virtual approach is the best way to reach the most ears. This might not be a valid argument. I am the one that needs to unplug. I need to show up, in the real world, more often. Look out sunshine, here we come.