Or does it? Let's talk about social media, ever present evil for Tamara, and beautiful point of connection for Iris! How can we use social media better? How do we cultivate a healthy relationship with it? Artists and media mentioned:   Iris’s Get Messy Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdbcQoqF3fh/ Averys Blog: https://fieldnotesfromthefuture.com/ Annie McNee (Inspired to Write): https://www.instagram.com/inspiredtowrite/ 10 Reasons to Delete Your Social Media: https://g.co/kgs/xFcPpW Holly McLaughlin: https://www.instagram.com/hollymclaughlin_art Key Takeaways 1. There is a difference between the promise of social media, or a nostalgic view of it, and the reality of social media as it is today 2..Certain platforms offer more longevity than others. TikTok and Instagram reels are much more short-lived than videos on YouTube.  3. Ask yourself how you interact with social media. What interactions do you remember? What interactions are meaningful to you? 4. Reshare your creations, don’t think your creations are only valuable when they’re new 5.Post at the time you can, rather than waiting for the perfect moment and then never doing it.  6.   If you’re not paying for something, then you are the product 7.Social media platforms want to keep you there for as long as possible. Some content is much more easily consumed than what you are ACTUALLY on the platform to see, eg. stories on YouTube or Reels on Instagram. We can have a healthier relationship with social media if we are more aware of what weare there for, and what we want out of it 8. Rather than taking the social media metrics such as likes or followers as the yardstick, define for yourself what satisfaction or success on social media looks like.  9. Don’t correlate your self-worth or the value of your art to how well you’re doing on social media.  10.To prevent social media stealing your time, turn off all notifications. Yes, you ARE allowed to do this!  11.Curate your feed. You are allowed to only follow those that you want, you are not obligated to follow someone back.  12.The amount of advice on what and how you should and shouldn’t share on social media is overwhelming and contradictory. At the end of the day, you are the only person who can decide what is right for you, based on how you feel. 13. Sometimes the fear of criticism or negative comments is much worse and more influential than when it happens. The criticism we are most scared of is usually that which confirms our worst fears about ourselves or something that mirrors an old childhood wound. Iris Website: https://iris-impressions.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iris.impressions.art/ Tamara Website: https://www.ruskea.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruskea_art/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.