Cee
asked
Erika Johansen:
Hi Erika! I just wondered what your thoughts are on social media? I noticed you aren't online except for Goodreads, and I was curious how you made that decision. (It's impressive, I think, in a time where so many people feel the need to be online.) Thank you very much!
Erika Johansen
Hi Cait. Truthfully, I loathe social media. I'm on GoodReads because my agent recommended it way back when I was first published, and whatever she says I do. (At the time, I didn't even know what GoodReads was anyway, let alone that it was considered a social media site. :) But in general, I think that social media is just a way to waste time and energy on things that aren't terribly important. If I want to find out what's going on with someone, I can call or e-mail them. I don't need to know what everyone thinks on every topic, or what they're doing with every hour of their day...and for the life of me, I don't know why anyone would be interested in hearing the same from me. I'm even more confused about people wanting to read about the minutiae of the lives of celebrities and other people they don't even know.
Honestly, I don't mind GoodReads, as it allows me to give fans news and answer their questions, and I'm never going to bestir myself to make my own author website or anything like that for the same purpose. But I try to restrict even my own interaction to times when I get asked something interesting (like this) or have something important to tell fans, such as an upcoming publication date...in other words, when there's actually something to say. For me, the 24-hour ability to broadcast everything one thinks and does lends an outsized importance to events - and people! - we used to recognize, quite rightly, as trivial.
Last, I feel like the whole focus on recording everything constantly - with an inevitable eye toward posting it - works to diminish the value of memory. Last time I went to see my favorite band in concert you could barely see the stage because every idiot had his phone in the air. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and all they were worried about was recording it; they also had no problem ruining the show for the rest of us in order to do so. When I read about people taking selfies at Auschwitz, I was appalled, but not particularly surprised. The idea that everything must be immortalized online at all costs is slowly undermining the good old notion that just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.
Whew...that was probably way more answer than you wanted. Ask a decent question, get Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud, I guess. :) Thanks very much for reading it all.
Honestly, I don't mind GoodReads, as it allows me to give fans news and answer their questions, and I'm never going to bestir myself to make my own author website or anything like that for the same purpose. But I try to restrict even my own interaction to times when I get asked something interesting (like this) or have something important to tell fans, such as an upcoming publication date...in other words, when there's actually something to say. For me, the 24-hour ability to broadcast everything one thinks and does lends an outsized importance to events - and people! - we used to recognize, quite rightly, as trivial.
Last, I feel like the whole focus on recording everything constantly - with an inevitable eye toward posting it - works to diminish the value of memory. Last time I went to see my favorite band in concert you could barely see the stage because every idiot had his phone in the air. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and all they were worried about was recording it; they also had no problem ruining the show for the rest of us in order to do so. When I read about people taking selfies at Auschwitz, I was appalled, but not particularly surprised. The idea that everything must be immortalized online at all costs is slowly undermining the good old notion that just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should.
Whew...that was probably way more answer than you wanted. Ask a decent question, get Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud, I guess. :) Thanks very much for reading it all.
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