...Nadya, and as a designer and photographer I find myself relying on the visuals most of my time. Recently, I found myself fully attached to the social media and the things that it produces. I discovered that by doing the opposite, going to the vacation without my phone. For 3 whole weeks I did not produce anything on the media, I did not consume, I did not participate in the products of social media. I was completely unaware of anything happening in the visual world of design and photography, I did not see what my friends were sharing, and most importantly for me, I did not share anything myself. When I was going through this challenge, I discovered how much time in the day I actually have to make art, to just observe the world around, to live even through the boring times, like waiting for the bus, without plugging myself into the media. By the end I felt truly amazing existing outside of the media life, that of course, has its own benefits. When I came back, I realized that social media is an awesome tool to share your experiences and give feedback to others like-minded people or critique things that don't always make sense, to get inspired and motivated, to influence others. Media holds a great power, knowing that almost everyone is plugged into it at any free moment, it makes it impossible to destroy. BUT sometimes, I wish to live outside of that big influence, having only phone numbers of important, in my life, people, and enjoy the life that that we are given only once.
I constantly shoot photos. My camera is my best friend, and now, I feel like it's a part of who I am. Camera allows not only to capture the beauty of life, it allows me to share my vision with others. Through Instagram I share my vision and hope to find people who acknowledge and appreciate my posts, although in my mind I know, that I'm not doing it for others, but for myself. Luckily or unfortunately, media makes us strive for popularity or fame. I use media trying to promote my work, to make it be out there in space, rather than just saved in my folder on a laptop. I use Instagram platform to share what I have and at the same time receive another wave of inspiration and different visions. Media connects us by allowing to reach our friends on the other side of the world, but it also separates us from the people physically present next to us. Sometimes a person on the phone looks just like a lonely camper, with the light inside of the tent shedding only the inside, similar to the phone screen shining bright without shedding light on anything physically surrounding us.
Social media eats time out of every day. And the problem that many of us face, including me, is that we forget to live in the now, even in the most boring moments of our life. We don't allow time for self-reflection or just simple casual thinking. During these "boring moments" when we have nothing to do, we try to fill up our brains with the overflow of news, images and sounds. We forget to give our brains time to just wander or process things. Media is constantly present in our lives, and is part of the modern culture. But I feel like we need to go back 100 years ago where people were more present in the physical world and embrace the ordinary in life again. It's funny I say that since media existed for so many centuries be it TV or newspapers or radio. All of these things were and are essential in order to know what is happening in the world around us. It sheds light into events that happen miles away and connects people in that sense.
By writing this I came to conclusion that I have mixed feelings toward media and its influence on our lives. On one hand, I appreciate it as a source of inspiration, news about current events, and a place to share my art, photography and vision. But on the other, it separates us from the reality of life and from other people present in it. It is definitely part of my culture and some part of sharing my work out there is a part of my identity, but I want co change something about that, or at least to be more conscious on the dependance on the non-stoppable flow of the imagery I see on daily and allow my brain to process info.
P.S: Photo taken by me during one of the best days of summer, when I existed outside of social media influence.
Link to the image HERE.
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