Who do you think you are?
Hello, my name is Noemi. I am an artist, freelance photographer, animal lover (especially cats) and classic gamer. I currently work as an early childhood educator with experience in ages three months to five years. I've lived a relatively nomadic life but have dominantly lived between Brooklyn and Newark. With that being said, I have drastically reduced my use of media consumption in many forms but have picked up new sources to replace them. For instance, since January 2018, I have chosen to deactivate virtually all of my social media accounts and have found myself to feel less anxious, more focused and deterred from comparing myself to others online. If you have felt this way, one of the most sage pieces of advice I have read is that people who post on social media only post what they want the public to see; not all that glitters is gold. Many will never show you all the failures it took in order to achieve what they publish.
Prior to my decision to start my social media detox, I used Instagram religiously to connect with other photographers from all over as well as a way to showcase my photographs to other shooters and network. It became a great resource to promote my work and receive a lot of positive recognition. However, these superficial concepts began to overrule my time throughout the day; it was literally consuming hours out of my day for months. After hitting my seasonal slump of uncreativity, I decided it was time to eliminate Instagram from my life and temporarily liberate myself from my social media shackles. The old ball and chain had been dragging me down and I desperately needed some time to focus on the present and plan for the future.
In the strangest way, because of my elimination of social media, I began to rely on new vices. It reincarnated as playing Angry Birds and Animal Crossing on my phone (don't judge me) for hours at a time. The same way we all wake up and eagerly check our social media accounts to see who interacted with our posts while we got some much-needed sleep from the blue screen, was the same way I was excited to open up my game and catch up on what I had missed. The truth is, it seems that regardless we all lack self-control when it comes to our phones. This is the generation who will probably suffer the most from scoliosis and neck strain due to constantly keeping our heads down on our phones; I am unfortunately guilty as charged. I am, however, working on getting better at it and becoming more conscious about my media usage throughout the day. The longer we stare at our screens, the more we miss of the world happening right before our eyes.
Since moving into my dorm over a year ago, I have not had the use of a television on a regular basis (yes, not even on my phone). Unless the news is spreading like wildfire, I usually won't hear about it until days or weeks later or by word of mouth. One of the most recent examples of this was today when I was talking to a coworker this morning and she told me the Marcal factory in Elmwood Park had burned down entirely. The factory had been there since 1932 and had over 1000 workers employed. This was one of the last few standing beacons of industrialization in New Jersey and represented a culture of blue collared immigrant workers who created for a living. Their method of creation was significantly different from what we consider it to be today and genuinely broke my heart to hear and see. Sometimes it begs the question of whether it's better to know or not know these things based on how they make you feel.
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