The View From Here

This past week there was an explosion onto the social media scene of Threads. As someone who’s never been on Facebook or Twitter, the decision for me was easy – stick to Instagram, my only social media platform. But the hype also makes you question why you’re on a social media platform, and how much time you spend on it.

On Instagram, I mostly follow:

• Bookstagrammers. Their in-depth reviews keep my TBR list growing, and while I know there’s little chance of me ever getting to the bottom of the list, it’s opened the door to books and authors I might not have discovered on my own.

• Writers. I follow a few, mostly Canadian, as well as writing resources.

• Travellers and Wanderers. Also my kind of people along with the bibliophiles.

• A variety of older women with original, substantial, interesting, informative or just plain damn funny things to say.

It’s true, Instagram can consume precious hours, and often I will lament and resent the time I’ve spent scrolling. I try to avoid the usual pictures and clichéd hashtags about living your best life or some older age being the new younger age (or have I got that backwards). And you’ve most likely seen the seductive-looking photos of 81-year-old Martha Stewart in Sports Illustrated and heard both, the critics and the congratulators.

All of these still saying more or less the same thing: “Look at me!”  Look at how good I look (for my age). Look at how we look younger and better than our mothers or grandmothers did. Look, look, look!

But then there are those who get it, who are more interested in the ‘Listen to this’ instead of ‘Look at me’ approach. Of course, we want to look good. Who doesn’t? We’ve been conditioned to it; it’s inescapable. And while I love getting glimpses into the personal lives and faces of people I follow who I’ve never met IRL, I’m not interested in those who flaunt, under the guise of empowering or inspiring. (As MS did, which, in my opinion, was the exact opposite of empowering women). Time passes quickly, and before you know it, you’re on the other side of youth, and trying to desperately cling to it is surely a recipe for an unsatisfying life.

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As older women, we have experiences to share, thoughts, observations, understanding, maybe even some wisdom. We have stories to tell, opinions, perspectives, deeper reflections than we did in our youth. I’ve heard the bickering between generations seems to be growing, with one striking difference being that, while older generations are curious (and sometimes reproachful) about younger generations, the younger ones have very little interest in the older ones. They consider them on the way out, and no longer relevant. The root of ageism, fueled by the perception of irrelevance.

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Instagram can definitely be a time-waster – all that scrolling, along with the daily task of weeding out the random bots and questionable men (mostly Surgeons, Generals or Engineers, sometimes all three rolled into one!) who seem to mistake the platform for a dating site.  But, if you can avoid wasting time on those for whom it’s mostly a bragging platform, it can be a place to connect, expand, maybe even shift your perspective, and learn from people who are NOT YOUR FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE, but nonetheless can contribute to your enjoyment of it. If you scroll wisely. And there’s no fool-proof way of doing that.