ROLEY

Tag: Social Media

  • Monday, October 14th, 2024

    • There’s a belief about social media that goes something like this: Person A posts something innocuous like “I like cats.” This brings out all the cat haters, dog lovers, the gatekeepers who want you to name three cat breeds, and so on. I don’t get people sometimes. Anyway, Peace, Love, and Dodger Baseball.
    • Navigating this new world of cardiac care, I have a drug called Brilinta that I have to take twice a day. This drug stops platelets from forming and attacking the stent I had installed. If I don’t have this drug, the stent will clot, there will be another heart attack, and you can roll the dice on whether I come out the other side as still metabolizing. Funny thing: My insurance requires a prior authorization for this drug. So, if you understand all of this in context, my question is, “Prior to what, exactly?” Yout don’t schedule a heart attack. “Right, so we’ll handle the presentation at 9am, I’ve got that one on one at 11:30, and remember I have the massive coronary at 2:15? So get those questions to me by email by Noon. Not sure I’ll be on Teams later.”

  • Wednesday, July 17 2024

    Housekeeping

    A follow-up from yesterday: I’ve added a new page to the blog called LINKS, which will be updated daily(ish) with things I find interesting. You’ll note a hashtag next to the heading, which is an Anchor Tag that I’ll use to link you to the appropriate day when I share it via social. I’ve seen other folks use hashtags for the list items themselves, but I’ve found that those send you to a separate single post as well. I don’t think WP has that functionality, so I’ll just use this for the time being.

    This gets me closer to the vision I had for this blog for a long time, where I’m not using posts, but a list divided daily on a single page. I like this, and I may switch to it overall for daily use. I’ll still keep the blog, but that would be for when I need to bloviate a bit more (ok, more than usual.)

    If The Engagement Lasts More Than Four Hours

    The funny part about writing a post about the sad state of clickbait (for lack of a better term), is that when you title the post “Social Internet has ED“, I’m the schmuck that is so amused by that title I’m going to click on it. The upshot of the post is that the current state of the internet is all about the algorithm and manipulating it to your advantage. When you understand that engagement doesn’t care if you’re positive or negative, just that you engage, then you begin to understand why some people craft the posts they do. The ‘Own the libs’ crowd, for example. Boebert, Greene, Gaetz, and that ilk understand this (or their social media team), and yet we still argue with them online. It’s at the point that I don’t even screenshot them and respond anymore. I’m really beginning to wonder if rediscovering and optimizing the blog rather than contributing to social media is the answer. Social media used to drive traffic to blogs and websites, I wonder if that’s still the case. I know it still drives me nuts, that’s for sure.

  • Cleaning the Social Media Gutter

    I’m noticing that quite a few people that view my stories on Instagram are people that I don’t know, and want nothing to do with. I started to go through my list of followers, and I quickly realized that leaving my account inactive for a long period of time might have been a mistake. A quick note about weeding the garden: Instagram doesn’t really make it easy, especially on the desktop version. It’s just a small scroll box in the center of the page. I really would like a way to bulk remove/block people. That should be a no-brainer.

    Yes, I realize there are 3rd party solutions that may allow you to do this, the point is that IG should allow you to do this. I’m going to look for those solutions so that I don’t have to waste more time in the weeds than necessary.

  • LINK: First-Gen Social Media Users Have Nowhere to Go →

    Ever since the popular platforms got basically weaponized, it’s been a little more like which one is the leper with the most fingers left. I’ve found myself on Threads, which is Zuckerberg. At least he’s not an insane fascist as far as we know. I hardly ever post on Facebook anymore, and I’m warming back up to Instagram since they appear to be appealing to photography again.

    That said, I’m not going to worry too much about it. I have this place, and anything I have to say I can post here.

  • Friday, October 6th, 2023

    I got rid of X(witter). I don’t listen to news or political podcasts anymore. If I want to hear what’s going on in Congress or the White House, C-Span is a primary source. I have plenty to do during a day to doomscrolling social media. I finish what I have to do during the day and I find I have no time to sit on social media.

    I’ve been able to create because I’m taking the time to do that first before I do anything else. I let stuff go. Amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care about anything that doesn’t matter.

  • Thursday, October 5th, 2023

    Social Media Warriors. Keyboard Commandos. People who don’t know how to human.

    Chaos Agents, bomb throwers, soundbite seekers, world burners.

    This is what we’re dealing with if you let it in.

    Do we need to? That’s the question.

  • Wednesday, October 4th, 2023

    Here’s something to think about: Did the anonymous nature of Social Media make it harder for us to let stuff go? Hell, even work from home might play a role. The cocooning we’ve done the past few years may have weakened our ability to human. So we lose our filters and we say what we think without giving a rat’s ass about the effects.

    We all might be an island, but we’re all islands on the same damn planet. We need to remember that.

  • This Used To Be My Playground. Or Drug Of Choice. It’s One Of Those.

    I realize that it might be a bit counterintuitive to talk about overusing social media on social media, but let’s talk about overusing social media on social media.   

    This has been weighing on my mind ever since Elon, who I will from this point forward refer to Incelus Maximus, Sooooper Geeeeeenius, bought Twitter.  It’s clear to me that he wishes to normalize the kind of toxic wasteland you’d find on 4chan or 8chan or worse.  Yes, I’m pretty sure there’s worse even if I’ve never seen it AND WHY WOULD I WANT TO SEE IT?  This rant is about not social media-ing, for crying out loud.  

    Grover Norquist, on an NPR interview in 2001 famously said “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”  That’s what Incelus Maximus is doing to Twitter, or X, or whatever he needs to call it to make himself feel like a man.  He bought the playground we all use, and he’s systematically taking away the swings, the slides, the merry-go-round, and the see-saw, until it’s a bare patch of land that he can pave over. 

    As a result, I’ve been roaming around all the new playgrounds to see what I like, but then I had a thought.  Why am I doing that?  Why do I feel like I have to find a new place?  I’m not sticking around the old one much longer, but who says I have to *go* anywhere?  

    I know, I’m telling you this on a podcast that I also post to TikTok and YouTube.   Not the LEAST bit hypocritical.  Hear me out.  There’s a difference between creating content and consuming it.  One actually puts something out into the universe, the other will take your time and your health if you’re not careful.   I think one of my problems has been the mindless consumption of social media instead of sitting down at my desk and creating something.   You know how this goes, right?  Sit down, pull out your phone, open a soul-stealing app, and then the next thing you know the kids have Masters degrees and you’re in a home needing a wipe and the nurse can’t understand front to back like the rest of the staff.  

    The only solution that makes sense to me is to create before I consume.  I will pick a home for social media, but create my content primarily for my own website instead of giving the techbro of the month the fruits of my labor.  

    On a completely unrelated note, there should be some labor.   Some kind of labor.  

    Any kind of labor.   

  • Friday, February 24th, 2023

    • I had what I think is a meaningful exchange with a friend on the Birdsite; they were wondering if a small camera like a Canon G7X is worth it when we all have cameras in our pockets.  Putting aside the old saying that the best camera is the one you have with you, I would say that if you’re not getting paid for your work, your phone camera is often better than an SLR any day of the week.  Plus, and this is by no means necessary, Moment makes a case and lenses for your phone.  I generally shoot videos with a CPL and an ND 32 filter attached.  I have a telephoto and wide-angle lens, but I rarely need to use them.  Also, while I have a DJI Osmo Gimbal, I rarely use that.  If I’m shooting a video, I use my mini tripod as a handle with a phone clamp.  If I’m shooting photography, I don’t need anything else. But, again, I’m not a professional, and what works for me may not work for you.
    • My SLR has taken up residence in my studio in a locked-down position, and I’ve just bought a teleprompter system that uses my iPad for the scripts.  We used something similar when I worked at Canon, but I was in the market for something that didn’t cost an arm and a leg.  Next up, lav mics.  I might still have one somewhere; I’ll need to dig around and test it. Finally, perfect world, I want a boom mike on a stand.
    • While caring for the wife, I give a moment of praise for the ability to get groceries delivered and the gig workers who bust their asses to deliver them.  I did it for a while, so I know the wear and tear they put on themselves and their cars.  I also know what a treasure it is to have those 2-3 hours back so I can do other things.  If you use a similar service, please take the time to thank them and tip them as well as you can.
    • A handy tip for those who feel compelled to pick the low-hanging fruit tweets of some of our more colorful wingnuts:  Don’t.  You’re being baited, and too many of us take the bait.  More engagement boosts it in the algorithm.  They cry about being shadowbanned when they don’t get the engagement they think they deserve.  With Elon being Elon, now is the perfect time to follow the screenshot method.  Screenshot the post, crop it, post that picture with your response, and do not tag the OP.  Let them cry to Elon.  Hell, let them cry, period.  We do not have to engage these people.  We can point and laugh at them while they melt down, though.

  • Sunday, February 19th, 2023

    Welcome back. That’s more for me than it is for you.

    • I haven’t had as much time for blogging–or anything else– as I have for other things that require my time. Specifically, in the past little while, my cat died, my wife’s parrot died, and my wife almost died. So, I’ve been busy. I haven’t been well, but I appear to be returning OK. It’s incredible what having access to the meds you need to be a functional human being will do for you. It would appear that my mental situation was directly tied to my lack of access to those medications. In this case, it was not my anti-depressant; it was the fact that I am now a Type 1 diabetic and am now insulin dependent. My A1C, a metric of my blood sugar levels over 90 days, was 10.1. A person who does not have diabetes would have an A1C of under 7.   Today, my estimated A1C is about 7.7, which has led to clearer thinking, more energy, and in this case, depression. I feel a lot more like my usual chaotic good self, so I’ll see if I can get back into creating more things.
    • At the beginning of the year, I set out a list of goals, separated by quarter. Due to the above, I’ve not met any of those goals for the 1st quarter. Let’s go over those:
      • WORK: Professionally, identify one area of my job where we could improve the workflow–DONE
      • WORK: Average between 700-750 items a week at my job.  — FAILED (managed 500-700 items a week. More than anyone else on the team by a lot, so might need to revise.)
      • WORK: Outline and propose Multimedia Training for my department — ADDRESSED, REJECTED due to Personal information being the hangup. PII Security is important in my line of work.
      • CREATIVE: Podcast and Patreon at least once a week in 1Q — FAILED; see above.
      • CREATIVE: Gain 25 subscribers on Patreon.  — PENDING
      • CREATIVE: One Tentpole article a month — FAILED; see above
      • CREATIVE: One Photo and one Video Essay in 1Q — PENDING
      • ACADEMIC: Dedicated Learning Time once a month in 1Q — PENDING
      • FUN:  Karaoke once a month — PENDING
      • FUN: Photo Challenge once a month — FAILED; see above
      • FUN: New song on guitar once a month — FAILED; see above
      • FUN: Something that doesn’t involve work or creativity once a month – well, depending on how you look at it, spending more time in a hospital than anyone should qualify, but FAILED in the spirit of the intention.

        Since I feel better and things are getting as close to normal as things get, I intend to try and catch up on some of those pending and failed items, but we’ll see how it goes.


    • I didn’t go into much detail about this, but you’ll notice that this website has returned to a WordPress site. I don’t have a bad thing to say about Squarespace; I no longer require or desire the bells and whistles they provide. Still, even WordPress doesn’t quite capture what I want. The closest thing that captures what I wish is Dave Winer’s Scripting News, run on Dave’s outliner program Drummer. To get as close to that as possible, I make one post a day with all the items I want to cover. I don’t believe I have the ‘fu’ required to create something in Drummer. I intend to try, and if I’m successful by some quirk of fate, I may redirect the domain there. In a perfect world, I’d try to run it from my server, but it doesn’t look like that’s possible. I could be wrong. In the end, what I want is (maybe) simple:  One date per day, my writing for the day underneath with anchor tags for each item, and the ability to post those items to Twitter, Mastodon, etc.
    • Speaking of social media, I’m frankly getting sick of it. Facebook sucks, Instagram no longer focuses on photography,  Elon is intent on making Twitter a garbage fire, TikTok is OK, but mainly for fun, and LinkedIn is not what I’m trying to reach. Mastodon is OK, but I feel meh about the whole thing.   I no longer have a clear understanding as to why I’m on social media at all. It was to try to direct eyeballs here, but I spend so much time on those platforms that I spend next to nothing here where I should. I’ve half a mind to cancel all my social media accounts and work on optimizing everything for search to come here. That sounds like the direction I want to go. Or, I cross-post links to those places and not deal with them outside of that. The bottom line is that I no longer think that social media serves any purpose other than to agitate, and I don’t need that drama anymore. I certainly don’t need the distraction.
    • Not sure how this post is going to work going forward.  I’ll either post it in the evening, or write a bunch of stuff and post it the next morning.  Frankly, I’m leaning towards the latter.  That waym I might have the time to research anything that comes up and give you something more than my usual gas-filled take on things.  We’ll see.  if that’s the case, the next post will probably be Tuesday.