Friday Happy Hour: Addicted to Social Media

 It's true. It's my outlet during a solitary day. It's my early morning coffee break. It's my "after school" hang-out. It's my go to comfort zone, at home or on the go. Sadly, it's even girl's night out sometimes. (But fortunately it's never date night!) Sometimes the quiet is interrupted only by one more check on Facebook and one more search on Pinterest. I am seeking out interaction in the loneliest place in the world. The Internet.

But I find you there, too. I find long lost friends, neighbors, virtual connections, and relatives that I have grown close to over the last couple years solely because of the magic of fiber optics. I feel overwhelmed by the support I receive through sharing and quick little messages posted to my domain. And I feel lucky to be able to reach out when I know I am needed.

Social Media has sucked away hours of my life, but the joy of finding you there daily gives me a solid reason to keep coming back for more. So, Mr. Zuckerberg, though I am sure you have created the giant of all social media for monetary reasons, and my rights may be infringed upon regularly, I still thank you for our modern method of staying in touch. I am glad to have Facebook and I don't know what I would do without my daily fix.

This has been the best week ever. I have used social media to share my art and I have loved brightening everyone's day with new art, How exciting. Here are a few other ways I have enjoyed the benifit of social media:

• I have a virtual collection of lovely things right here on Pinterest. It's been great to save recipes, holiday decorating ideas, and even a massive art collection all on my pinboard in the sky.
• You Tube has a video for almost anything you want to know. Change a tire? Play violin? Watch a friend's movie? And especially for me, art lessons galore!
• Google+? What's that? I have one of those, but I don't know why....
• Wet Canvas and Absolute Write chat boards have been a great resource to meet writers and artists from around the world.
• I'm on Twitter, but I still don't know how to tweet!
• And then there are all of those blogs with millions of inspiring ideas and fabulous new ways of connecting with one another through innovative projects. Yes, bloggers are putting a piece of themselves out into the world wide web hoping to nab just a bit of your attention.

When is it all too much? I'm sure there will come a time that social media will need rehab, but for now I am sticking with it and look forward to seeing you there, too!