As stupid as this may sound, deleting my Facebook account two weeks ago has been one of the biggest reliefs ever. Being so far away from home, and the friends which live there, as well as ones who live all around the globe, Facebook was sadly the only way to keep in touch, but I mainly found myself speaking to people who are living in Leeds online, which is pointless! When I see them every day, or at the very least every few weeks, I decided it was time to have a virtual spring clean, and said good riddance to many of my online accounts.
Since doing this, I have got address' for my far away friends, so I can start sending them letters and hand made naffy gifts, and emails or mobile numbers for Leeds based people. I still have a few online accounts, such as this blog, my Linkedin, Flickr and Twitter which people can find me on.
I have also met up with people in real life more too (not some rubbish virtual space), and really enjoyed being in good company and getting out of my flat more.
So how does this effect my Personal or Professional life, or even my work Practise?
Personal- As sad as it may sound, I have more time to do other things as I won't be constantly checking my Facebook to see what the latest sloth or cat picture is!! Which means I can spend time reading, learning different languages, cooking and doing work, as well as keeping in contact with true friends.
Professional- It has been shown so many times that employers look at your internet accounts before hiring you, and although I never post anything that I wouldn't want potential employers or my grandparents to see, I find this fact rather off-putting. Although I am myself on Twitter, I use it more as a 'networking' (gosh I hate that word) tool, to meet new creative people and discuss work or just other random stuff! Again with this new freed up time, I am becoming even more proactive, and finding work I could be involved in in afternoons and weekends.
Practise- This has effected my practise, as along with my Facebook personal account, I have had to delete my artist page, meaning that people are unable to follow my work in that way. I also had my Vimeo and Blog linked up with my account, meaning that my friends were updated when I had posted something new.. But now this has all been deactivated. But with Facebook my 'friends' were often the only people that it reached, who the majority are people from back home with no interest in art but felt they needed to support my work, or classmates who can reach my blog in other ways, so all is not lost.
Overall I think that it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, and feel so much happier than I have in a long time.
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