So here we are. 1000 posts.
I have 32 followers, which by most standards, I believe, is quite low. However I don’t really mind. I’m not sure how many of you actually read my rants. Those of you who do, thank you for taking the time. Those of you who do and also respond and message to say how you like them, thanks. I need some ego boosting sometimes, I don’t think enough of myself.
Lately I’ve realised that I’m actually alright, as people go. I need to stop giving myself such a hard time. So what if I’m running years behind everyone else on the social scale? It’s a scale you made up. It’s not real. I’m doing things in my own time. I’ll get a girlfriend when someone walks into my life and it happens, not when you set me up with someone. May I kindly remind you that I’ve had a full time job for 5 years and am about to get a mortgage. I don’t mean to brag, but if you will look down on me for not drinking alcohol, not having a girlfriend, not watching popular TV, not dating people or sleeping with them for the Lulz, not doing things considered normal for someone my age…well then I’ll just have to remind you that being different is working out pretty well for me. How’s being like everyone else working out for you?
Although, that’s the thing with Tumblr. I’ve realised that I’m not alone, not really. There are people with the same anxieties as me, so many that there’s a whole cat dedicated to those anxieties. There are people out there who are just as insecure as me about their place in society, about how they fit in or don’t, as the case may be.
We’ve got our own language on here, via Rage Comics. We might as we add another language to our CV. It’s genius. There’s a face for everything (personal favourite, the laughing IDGAF man).
So thanks guys, thanks for making me feel less alone. This really is the only social networking site that doesn’t rely on being a sheep. We don’t have to have trending topics shoved in our faces. “Look at what most people are talking about” says Twatter, “Why are you not talking about these? Look at these topics? LOOK AT THEM! LOOK!”.
Facebook…you might as well called it Pondbook, the amount of duck-faces you get on there. (See what I did there? POND + DUCK? EH? EHH?).
I was just telling a friend (This is his blog. Follow him, he is sexy) that I was almost tempted to re-re-rejoin Twitter on Sunday, but decided against it. In my line of work it could be quite a good promotion tool though, so at some point I might have to. For the time being, however, I’m good. It’s pretty useless if you’re not funny to most people (check), not popular/famous (semi-check), or typically attractive (check). It still astounds me how people will still follow someone just because they give regular meal updates or post pictures of the turd they just squeezed out. Why do they give a fuck? Why??
Yeah you can say stuff about Tumblr, some of the Sherlock fan-fic is a bit odd, and the cat gifs start to grate after a while, but at least that’s amusing and heartfelt and original and not just a massive ego boost like Twitter. “LOVE ME MY MINIONS, HERE IS A PICTURE OF MY FAECES.”
Why do people care? I’ll never understand. It’s like being part of the in crowd at school. Something I had no desire to be, once I realised they were all partially mentally disabled. Bless.
Tumblr is mainly people who were inbetweeners, I think. Well, inbetweeners get the most from it, that’s for sure. We understand the weird memes, the strange rage comics. The in crowd don’t. We should be proud of that. We’re celebrating our individuality through our own unique blogs, but we come together over these strange internet phenomena, this new language that’s been created for us.
I kind of don’t want to tell people about it. I have a primary reason for keeping my tumblr fairly quiet, but I guess my secondary reason is because I almost don’t want to promote it. I don’t want to spread the word. Things are always ruined when most people get their mitts on it.
Twitter wasn’t too bad before knobbish celebs and desperate teenagers got hold of it. Facebook was (and still is in its simplest form) a great way to keep in touch with people and maintain friendships. Now it’s just a place where you can get attention and post every single fucking picture you take. Just take a step back. Do you really need to post it? Can you not just keep the photos where they are? Do you really know that person you just added? Have you spoken to them face to face in the last year? No? Delete. Go on…do it.
The danger with social networking is that, although it starts as a really positive thing, it can make us all the same. We hear about it, our friends join it, and then we’re just doing what everyone else is doing.
I’m not immune, I’ve been there, I write from experience. I joined Facebook, I did the whole status update thing. You know “Here are some lyrics that represent my thoughts, hope you like it.” Posting photos because you know someone will like it. Waiting for that little red bubble to turn up. Logging in the second the laptop wakes up.
Twitter…well that just didn’t work. Firstly, I did it publicly, got plenty of followers, but I wasn’t being myself. I was being what popular people on Twitter were like. Trying to be funny, trying to be loud. Portraying a false image of myself in public…not a good idea. I left. Then I joined privately. To put it bluntly, no one gave a flying fuck about anything I was posting. So I left again. Forget it.
Tumblr’s the only thing I’ve come back to (this is 1000 posts as Ranting Cynic. I had one before.) and actually grown to like more, as opposed to hate more.
Thanks tumblr, for helping me feel less alone. Thanks to the people I follow for inspiring me and making me laugh day after day. Thanks to my followers for following me…and special thanks if you actually read my rants and long wordy posts. I know, I usually scroll past the words. It’s all about the pictures.
So the big thank you goes to you, reading this last bit. You made it. I’m done.
For now.
