The Cynical Girl: F@%k It Friday: Boredom

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F@%k It Friday: Boredom Posted: 01 Feb 2013 03:45 AM PST I think that ever major problem with society starts with boredom. From vandalism to alcoholism to murder, people just don’t know what to do with themselves when they have too much time on their hands. My grandmother used to say that boredom was a luxury. She is right. And my very early bosses used to say, “If you have time time lean, you have time to clean.” I think that’s true. Right now, my life is très boring. I am figuring shit out. Writing. Reading. Whatever. And I really thought it would be a good idea to take 365 pictures of my cat Emma, this year. Ugh. This is why boredom is dangerous. It makes bad ideas seem good. And while the world needs more Emma, my master bathroom cabinets also need a good cleaning. So that’s on my list for next week. What about you guys? Anyone bored out there? Trying to figure things out? Did you do something stupid because you were bored with life? Tell me!

Don’t Be A Social Media Lemming Posted: 31 Jan 2013 03:45 AM PST A few months ago, the parents in my community were all freaked out about Snapchat. If you don’t know anything about it, Snapchat is an app where you can take a picture on your phone and send it to a friend. The picture shows up on your friend’s phone for about 10 seconds and then it disappears. (Sorta. Nothing ever disappears.) Kids are using it to sext one another. Shocking, I know. All of the mothers and fathers in my area knew about Snapchat before me. I asked myself, “How am I so behind the times? How do these lame people with kids know about things before I do?” Then I realized it’s the kids. Although I was blogging in 2004 and poking around Twitter and Facebook in late 2006 (and sooner on LinkedIn), it doesn’t matter. These moms and dads are savvy. And even though I worked in marketing as a B2B social media strategist, I will always play catch up because I don’t have kids. I am okay with it. The chase for the newest ‘cool tool’ makes you into a tool yourself. And for what it’s worth, when I finally got on Snapchat, I took some pictures of Scrubby and sent them to my husband. (This confirms that Snapchat is totally over, by the way.) And now I’m taking Scrubby and Emma photos on Vine. Hmm. Listen, I think it is okay to be intellectually curious. You need to know what your kids are doing on social media. If you are looking for a job, you want to know how to use Twitter for your job search. And if you work in marketing, you should know how brand and message are interwoven into new communication channels. But chasing the latest app and widget — with the hope that you’ll be more informed or more relevant — is degrading and demoralizing. And it certainly doesn’t feel very social.

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