In a world overloaded with information; how do I get you to see me?
In a world where everything is 99.9% digital, I wonder if anyone is paying attention. Like most of you, I have spent hours upon hours searching things on the internet, scrolling through social media, and getting lost in the endless amount of information available. If your phone has a feature that shows the amount of screen time you had for the week, have you ever really looked at it? What are you looking at and where are you spending the most time? I have and I can say that I am disappointed in myself.
Parking Meter in Youngstown Ohio – Original Watercolor – 2018
Let’s date this, around 2006, I lived in a little town just outside of St. Louis on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. I had a cell phone and laptop connected to the internet. The cell phone I had was a Nokia and it had the best calendar feature. Punch in the date, time, and appointment name and appointment set. It would go off and then that was it. Now, I have so many options for my calendar that I lose my mind on most days. I love that I can sync my Google calendar to my phone, before this utter chaos.
During this time, to keep myself busy I had to do things. There was only so much available on the internet and I had to be sitting at my computer to do it. YouTube was fun and I could spend hours there. Sitting at my desk was tiresome so I would find other things to do — go to Blockbuster and rent movies, work on craft projects, cook, clean the house, go shopping, or take walks in local parks. I made a point to do physical activities. I made a point not to be on the internet all day.
Today compared to the good old days.
Today, that isn’t an option. I spend so much time in front of my computer for work. I can easily waste a day streaming movies and shows. My phone! I have it everywhere I go just in case I find myself alone and not wanting to look weird. That reminds me of growing up in the 90s. Do you realize the amount of trust I had for people back then? Once you left the house, you just had to trust the plans you made were good and your friends would show up. Today, that isn’t the case. Trust, I can trust that the person has their phone in their hand and is probably looking at it when I text but can I trust them to keep our plans, NO! This is “now” for me, this doesn’t include a few years ago when I was on dating sites. I realize that technology is a good thing.
I remember struggling back when I was growing up. Living in a small town, you don’t have experiences like in other places. If I wanted to know how to do something, I would have to find a book or someone who has already done that thing. Do you know how hard it is for either of those if you can’t drive, live in the country, and your closest neighbor is miles away? Next to impossible. However, somehow I managed to figure things and today, I am thankful for how I grew up. I know how to do things. If I don’t, I can figure it out. Would my life have been easier if I could have Googled how to; yes, a thousand times over.
What got us here?
Which brings me to my concerns today. As a graphic designer, an artist, and a photographer, how do I get you to pay attention to what I am doing? I know what you’re going to say, “You need to be on social media and make posts and do this and do that.” Well, “I do that and it doesn’t work.” Why doesn’t it work, I am on social media and follow people. I want to know what they are doing, but I don’t want to visit their profile every time to see it. Feeds filled with ads or suggestions that I don’t want are all I get anymore. So I can only assume that the people I want to see my stuff have the same issues. I’m not sure if technology is good for everything.
There are two sides to every story and I can see why we need it but I can also see how it is harming us as well. Don’t you miss the days when you needed to have someone’s business card to contact them? You had to call them or visit their website. I miss the days when going to the website was meaningful. Now, if someone doesn’t have social media, I don’t usually connect with them. I don’t want to have to bookmark their site or hold on to their business card everything I want to see what they are up to. Is this how others feel? I ask this because I used to have a website. I could never make up my mind on the design and struggled with it for years until I decided it cost more to keep it going than I was getting out of it. No one ever looked at it and no one contacted me through it.
Final thoughts…
I leave you with this, how do I get you to stop, look, and remember?