Social Media Presence

Pull your tribe in close. Adhere to the social distancing.

article by Cindy G. Foust

Happy April to the BayouLife community as we are living and breathing in the strangest of times both in our coveted little corner of the universe and all over the world. Anybody with me? I walked out of my house yesterday morning, however, and someone forgot to tell the azaleas that we might be on the verge of the apocalypse because they were alive with blooms and happiness. It made me smile.

For you see, I, like many of you, have been in meetings for the last few days, as well as glued to the news reports about the dire circumstances we are facing as a country with the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus. I am not a medical professional so I absolutely cannot weigh in on the severity of the virus. By the same token, I will also refrain from weighing in on whether I think this is a “politically motivated during an election year” rumor, started by the government of Zimbabwe to make sure neither the Republicans nor the Democrats win the White House but instead ET will finally phone home and become president. Anybody else smell what I’m stepping in?

If you are like me, when things like this happen… wait… nothing like this has ever happened so let’s rephrase this statement, as there has never been a toilet paper shortage as a means to treat a respiratory illness, right?

But, if you are like me, I try to educate myself on matters that could profoundly and directly affect my family and friends to make sure I am part of the conversation in how to deal with such potentially disastrous circumstances.

The problem is… who and what do you believe? Social media? Is this our point of reference or informative highway for staying abreast and informed on such critical matters? For me, social media began as a way to connect with friends and stay in touch with family members that live far and away, resulting in a means to stay in closer contact.

One of my best friend lives in Denver and I feel fortunate that I get to watch her twins grow up even though I don’t get to see them often. Social media can be a good thing, am I right? Or maybe not.

Recently, I, grown adult Cindy Foust, was “social media shamed” when someone said to me, “Cindy, you don’t ever put much on Facebook about your children.” In case you’re wondering, I looked at them like they had a unicorn head. For one, my social media accounts are just that, my social media accounts. For two, I’m not in a contest with social media friends to see who can post the most about our children, our jobs, our spouses or alternatively, keep all my FB friends apprised about what I’m ordering at Shulze (the on-campus cafeteria my office frequents routinely with a very excellent salad bar by the way) for lunch.

Similarly, do I care if you do? The answer is absolutely not… it’s your social media domain and you can feel free to promote your business, your causes and your children to your heart’s content, it doesn’t bother me a bit. In fact, when I do have time for social media, I rather enjoy knowing what’s going on in the lives of my family and friends. The only offense I have is when you shame me because I don’t. Because what happens, (unfortunately for my readers), is when something is offensive to me, it will invariably make its way to the words of this column.

If something “gets me to thinking” then this will probably not bode well for the handful of you still reading my column after I mentioned ET for president. In this case, what got me to thinking was if a comment to me as a VERY mature adult, VERY mature, could make me feel bad about my social media presence, then how might this affect a child or teenager when comments are made to them about theirs? I don’t think the comment to me was meant to be disparaging, just observational, which also made me think that this person had nothing else to do in all of the world except watch potatoes boil if all they had to do was worry about what I was posting or not posting on social media.

Whether or not the intent was malicious, it still hit a nerve. I have a teenager in the throes of “teenhood” and let me tell you, if you are likewise raising a teenager, you know it’s not for the faint of heart. Social media insecurities have certainly made their way into many of our conversations and have had negative impacts at various times on both my children.

Heck, I have them as well, so how can we expect our children not to feel “social media inadequacies” if we as adults do? Other than completely restricting a social media presence, I’m not really sure we can.

There will always be someone taking better vacations (historically speaking, of course), working out more than you (well, not me because I dusted off the Jane Fonda VHS workout video so I’m about to be sweating to the oldies), or showing off their pets who can do super human tricks. Wait. No one has better pets than me, Annie Lou Foust, my Malti-poo or Glen(da) the donkey. I’m not trying to poke the bear on this subject, but the evidence continues to mount linking social media to depression, so in light of what we have going on around us, tread cautiously readers.

Heck, I get depressed sometimes just reading people’s posts, particularly during times such as these, in the midst of a national crisis. But come on friends, we are smarter than that, right? Do we want to rely on the historians who are crying “the sky is falling, the sky is falling?” I think what I’m trying to say is this: don’t sit on social media and read post after post after post about a potential dooms day.

Pull your tribe in close. Adhere to the social distancing. Wash your hands frequently. Stay home. At what other time in American history have we seen the likes of such rules like what we are living today? I went to the grocery store this afternoon with one of the people I love most in my life, Sam, and as we were walking past the empty bread shelves he said, “Cindy, I never thought I’d live to see this day.”

He’s right, it’s unprecedented times as most of us have been forced to work from home; our children aren’t in school; restaurants and retail stores are either closed or running reduced schedules… it’s madness.

But with God’s mercy we will make it through; we are a nation of resilience and we have the capability to come together and get through this crisis. I pray God’s richest blessings on each of you and your families during this time… and for both safety… and sanity, as we move to what I pray is a swift resolution to this crisis.

Cindy G. Foust is a wife, mom, author and blogger. You can find her blog at the alphabetmom.com for weekly columns about home life, parenting, small business stories and insight with a smidgen of literacy. Give her a like or follow on Facebook and Instagram.