The last few years I have been in a bit of a conundrum about what to do with things I come across that are quick quotes, photos, or snippets of material. Usually it’s not enough for a long form post, or it’s the day after I publish a Rabbit Trail and it goes into the black hole of the Notes app on my phone. Also, for those of you who are email subscribers to this blog, I don’t want to fill your inbox with every paragraph that I think worth sharing. So, I’m trying something new and have created a micro.blog to house quotes, paragraphs, and photos of things that I find interesting and want to share. There are a few reasons behind this for me (I am admittedly following suit behind a professor who I read on matters of habit and formation)—and here are a few hopes:
- To share content and reclaim time from paying attention to how the content is received. I can admit the dopamine hit of likes, views, hearts, and favorites is a tricky thing to steward. I want to share things and let it sit on its own, not feel like I get rewarded for someone else’s work because of an algorithm and my neurobiology. That means these posts automatically are cross-posted to my Twitter profile, and I am making a deal with myself to check it once a week or so (read: maybe 2 weeks). Instagram will be a place either to share Rabbit Trails, happenings within TVCI, or something that just seems too good to pass up sharing—all within set days/limits thanks to Freedom App.
- To curate my inputs more effectively. While being home during COVID, I welcomed social media back into my daily routine in order to keep up with people who I could not see day to day, and I am feeling the pull of the phone too much while I’m in the house with my family. I’m also feeling inundated with media due to a bit of doomscrolling.
- To focus on my PhD reading which is coming like the boulder behind Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- To push interactions to phone calls and emails rather than DM’s. Pastoring in COVID and with diminished embodied interaction means that every inbox I have is being utilized, and trying to maintain messages across 5 platforms is tricky. Hopefully this will help move things toward the main avenues of communication and increase the quality of it.
I’m calling this resource the B-Sides, where you might find odds and ends that interest you. It’s linked here, and in the menu bar up top for quick reference. I think one can subscribe via RSS (if that is a thing you still do?). I’ll try it through the summer and we’ll see how we do.