From mid-2017 until recently, I feel like I developed a bad habit: I was proverbially throwing the baby out with the  bathwater. I rejected the good things within a larger body because I didn’t like some of the elements.

What did I throw away? My involvement online.

The news made me mad, social media seemed controlling, toxic and lonely, YouTube comments were still a cesspool, and Reddit lost it allure. I was so turned off. Everything online looked like garbage to me. It was a place I did not want to participate in.

It’s a dangerous thing to look for perfection within human systems. It causes us to become cynical and pessimistic. We can’t see the forest for the trees. Our actions continue to poke holes into things that are flawed instead of acting an agent of change. 

What did I do? I ghosted my social media networks. I stopped posting things.  I would still creep (but less so), but was not a participant. I only made one blog post; a short, spontaneous idea during the summer.

I’m happy to say that I think I’ve dropped that sentiment; I’ve struck a balance. Being online too much (regardless of platform) is unhealthy, but shirking away my presence was incongruent with how I want to share the thoughts, feelings, and actions of my students and I.

In 2019 my hope is to share more.  More reading good content, less scrolling through posts.

Check out what we do in our classes by checking my Instagram @schmidtsclass

Join me!

Reflections 2019 reflection