Why I need a social media fast now and then

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@bhavanikrishnanart

This is me. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I look at when I open my eyes is Instagram. I follow about 600 other artists on Instagram. On any given day, my feed includes amazing artwork being posted by the talented people I follow. People are posting paintings from plein air events and invitationals. Several people have shows opening, many others have won awards at various events, some are teaching workshops and so on. Here, I am starting my day with nothing going on, and I already feel like a loser. You see where I am going with this? 

It's obvious that this is not good for me. I think in writing this blogpost, I am realizing how much I am addicted to Instagram. Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I am very pleased that I have all of this information at my fingertips and I am very happy for everything my friends are doing and achieving but there is fine line between staying up to date and having too much information.

I used to justify my time spent on Instagram but calling it "research". But is it.. really? What good is a movie director if he spent all his time watching films claiming that he is doing research. At some point he has to stop or actually make his own film.

So, what is an artist to do in this day and age of social media. Allow yourself a social media cleanse once in a while. If you are feeling overwhelmed, just put your phone away and don't look at Instagram until your painting day is over. Sometimes you just need to close that door, not let anyone in and spend some alone time with your paints and your canvas. Listen to some music. Better yet, go outdoors and do some plein air painting.

It seems so obvious now that I read my post but I think I need to write this; just so I can remind myself the next time my head starts spinning, having overdosed yet again on my Instagram feed. It's already happening. Time to start that cleanse. Tata.

PS: When you are not on a cleanse, please follow me @bhavanikrishnanart (LOL)