social media | Inverted Sky

Eight years ago I ditched social media and closed my accounts. There is nothing I miss about it. I’m relieved of not having to measure myself by the number of “likes” I get. I’m no longer forced to sort through content that is a deceptive mix of advertising. I like having a smaller sphere of social interactions. I’m naturally an introvert anyway.

Eight years ago was an election year, too. In the dozen of U.S. presidents that have reined during my lifetime, has any affected my day-to-day life? Not really. The choosing of a president is armchair quarterbacking. It’s religion. The politics that affect my day-to-day life are local. But it’s difficult to read any media source and escape the contest. It’s such a huge distraction and it goes on and on. Before the last presidential debate I thought, “has anyone not already made up their minds?”

I watched someone taking a “selfie” in front of an aspen grove that was changing color. I noted that the only reason anyone would take a picture of themselves is for their social media “stage”. That’s how I think of social media, trillions of personal sideshows all vying for attention. It’s such a trap.

The first few months away from social media was very difficult. It felt like I was like giving up a part of myself. But what part of me is gone? Maybe a little bit of ego. That’s not a bad thing. I’m not sure how useful ego is. And speaking of ego, the largest one in the world now owns one of the largest social media platforms.

While the aspen trees weren’t as spectacular as in previous years (especially in the highest elevations), this fall is not without it’s colors. I took these photos on a misty morning in Forsythe Canyon.

I have a number of miscellaneous things to update, but first another photo.

I didn’t place this leaf on the fern; the leaf just happened to land on it.

I have no regrets leaving Facebook after the 2016 election, during which my Facebook experience was pretty horrible. In the intervening time, it’s come to light all the unsavory things that Facebook did during that time. Social media has become a pox on our culture with too many people yelling into echo chambers. It seems that partisan internet debate culture has moved on to the roads, where the guy blocking your path is just another person from the opposite political party. In other words, I seem to be encountering more bullies on the road.

On the medical front, some recent imaging determined that I have permanent damage in my heart muscle. I’m feeling ok, and have been getting out hiking and biking as much as possible. I haven’t made it to a top of a mountain yet, but I’ve come close.

Likely pollution floating on the aptly named Gross Reservoir.

I’ve been creating some songs in the studio with my friend Kevin. I am more of a producer than a musician (not that they are mutually exclusive). I’ll come up with a drum track and he will invent a bass line to go with it. Then we’ll go back and record some guitar tracks on top of that. After that session, I will usually spend some with the tracks editing (sometimes pretty heavily, even to the point of changing some notes), adding keyboards, and mixing. The result so far is we have about 10 songs in various stages of completion. But I consider these to be just demos. The structure is there and they are ready for addition instruments and/or vocals if desired. Then if we like the end product, we will probably re-record the song to make it really tight. Kevin is a good musician and I’ve been pretty surprised with what we’ve done so far and how quickly he can come up with riffs. He can do it in an instant while it takes me days.

So many different colors, from the blue spruce, to the moss, orange lichen on the cliff and the leaves.

Is it just me, or is the signal to noise ratio on my phone getting worse. It seems like for every real phone call I receive, I will get 50 calls from spammers, robo scammers, and from some lady who can’t seem to get her headset adjusted. At least I haven’t heard from the “IRS” in a while.