Social Media Junkie
How many do you belong to? I'm signed up to all but ONE!

What’s the first thing Mama told you when you ventured out in public alone?  Don’t talk to strangers right?

It all started at the most ridiculous chat site known to man; The Howard Stern Chat Your Ass Off website.  My husband was working nights and I would literally race home, dial-up and anxiously wait for the squelch and squeal to dissipate.  Ah, I made a connection!

I would stay logged on whether I was feeding the children, cleaning house, bathing the children, or tucking them into bed.   That way, I wouldn’t miss a single second of what was being said. Scrolling was a chore because my dial-up connection was hideous.  However, when the dead silence of night arrived, that’s when the night started for me.

What a sickness..I would shake my head in embarassment….Imagine! ….chatting to complete strangers.  I succumb

I was hooked like a salmon on a rod.  Oh, and if Howard Stern came on…..watch out, this could be an all-nighter event.  First, trying to chat with him and then spending the rest of the night gloating that he responded.

Along with the chat site, came ICQ and MSN.  Those Oh-oh’s were so exhilarating until they just became bothersome ,after a few hours, provoking me to turn the volume down.

After admitting that I was a junkie, I immediately got off the chats site.  However, ICQ and MSN were a little tougher to break.  I lived in a neighbourhood that was none too friendly and I was alone most of the time.

After all of the arguments and fights over the neighbourhood and my addiction, we moved and I finally got a life.  My attention moved towards Survivor Australia and romantic nights with the hubby who recently started afternoon shift.  My social media cravings were getting marginally better as I only spent a little over an hour nightly, rather than most of the night.

We finally started to meet people and the Internet became a venue for looking up things (which I had no problem wasting an hour or two doing).  No more chatting though because I knew what it did to me.  I just loved talking to strangers, while I reprimanded my children to do the opposite.

One night during a party at a neighbours, a young guy came in and started talking about this website where you could find old friends and connect with them.  It was the newest and greatest thing to ever happen to the Internet.   I asked him what it was called.

He replied “Facebook”

I’m like “Cool, I’ll have to try to remember that” in my tipsy state.

That night, I went home and immediately typed Facebook into Google Search.  I signed up, and BANG….my first high school friend from 20-years ago accepted my friend request.  That wasn’t the end though.  Day after day, there was Trish, Sheila, Nicola, Ron, Andre, Sara…all of them returning back into my life virtually.  There was no more “What ever happened to…” as they were ALL there.

As well, my friend’s were posting LINKS!  Things to read….life couldn’t get any better.

I was hooked even worse than the Howard Stern Website.

It was then that I started blogging through Facebook notes.  Facebook notes gradually took me to Blogger.  However, I was bored at Blogger because I didn’t want to share my thoughts with many friends and family.  I wanted strangers to read about me.

Low and behold, then came Twitter!  Twitter, the world where everyone shares and few engage.  I had the best of both worlds.  I could engage on Facebook and share on Twitter.  What a delight!

After that, mobile Social Media.  You mean I can do all this on my phone?  This is Frickin Genius!!!  When I divorce, I want to marry Mark Zuckerberg or the Twitter Creator!

Now, we’ve got Google+.  Yet, another venue to do exactly the same thing that I have been doing for the past five years.  However, there’s even MORE strangers to engage and I can +1 their stories and links.  The pictures and videos are even more vivid than on Facebook.  It is so much more distracting for a person which a touch of ADHD.

What a wonderful world this is!!

Yes, my name is Trina Stewart and I….I….I am a Social Media Junkie.  However, with my Blackberry Bold I have the best of both worlds; reality and virtually.  I’m still happily married because I know when it’s time to “Put the phone down!”

Do you???

Related Images: