The Growing Demands of Social Media
I was watching one of the newest episodes of Portlandia (a fantastic new sketch comedy show on IFC about the hipsters in Portland) the other day and was left in hysterics after a scene featured Fred Armisen scrambling in vain to try and monitor Facebook, Twitter, and his iPhone simultaneously. No matter how badly we want to participate in the modern technological world, and no matter how much they enrich our lives by making communication easier, I can't help but feel that the responsibility attached to them is causing us more stress than pleasure – especially those of us using these tools for work-related reasons. The New York times featured another thought provoking article on the ever-tilting balance of home life and work life that I consider required reading for anyone with a work email account on their Blackberry. Just last night I was perusing the Netflix instant selections and settled on a National Geographic documentary about the effects of stress on the human body, and a large portion of the show discussed the impact of work-related stress on our happiness and, more importantly, life expectancy.
For reasons of personal privacy and control over who I allow to contact me, I do not have Facebook or Twitter accounts. After reading numerous studies about how they have decreased our ability to concentrate on important tasks, I really have no desire to get started. I'm not against the idea of social media or networking, I'm just exploring other options, namely doing it myself via this blog. I am quite taken by Twitter's ability to deliver quick, succinct bits of information instantly to those who are dedicated to remaining current. For that reason, I think that updating this blog more than once a day might be a good idea. There are definitely small announcements that I could provide throughout the time I spend at work and that would be of interest to spirits lovers. I'm not talking about news such as "I'm eating a sandwich right now" or "I'm so bored. Work sucks. LOL" but rather updates about products and events.
In the past I've tried to jot down information on a notepad that I would then gather for the weekly email. The blog was created to supplicate the email with extra information, but I'm finding that I forget to include things from time to time and it might be better to just update as I go. Therefore, look for maybe 3-4 blog posts everyday, rather than just one. If you're in the habit of checking every morning, make sure you scroll down a bit as there now may be multiple postings since the last time you checked in. Those on the RSS feed should get the updates as they happen.
As long as I only have to manage my email and this blog, I think I can continue to do my job well and keep my stress levels relatively low. Hopefully, a few posts a day will be sufficient to supply enough info to our 24 hour news cycle society. See you later today, and again after that!
-David Driscoll