On Monday morning, having just posted a reel about the lovely bookmaking workshop I’d done in Manchester last week, I’m informed that my Instagram and Facebook accounts have been blocked due to a ‘violation’ of Community Standards. No, me neither. It informs me that I can appeal so I press the button, expecting that it will tell me what this violation is and invite my response. Nope. Just another message telling me that my appeal has been submitted and their Lord High Majesties of the Most Holy Order of the Techverse will hand down their judgement as and when they can be arsed. (I made up that last bit, but you get my drift). Initially, I confess, I was somewhat miffed. How am I to communicate with my adoring fans?? But then enlightenment dawned. Finally I have the perfect opt-out from Soshul Meeja. No more trying to come up with eye-catching photos, clever captions, suitable background music. No more scrolling through other people’s posts and feeling inadequate because they’re so much better at this stuff than me. Oh Joy! Of course, the downside is, I do still have to earn a living, so I need some way of letting people know what I’m up to. Hence, Dear Reader, this blog post. From now on, all the navel-gazing I once posted on Instagram, will appear here so if you were one of those lovely people who ‘followed’ me and occasionally liked and commented on my random musings, you can hopefully still do so. In fact, I’d really appreciate a comment on this post in particular, just so I know there’s someone out there reading this drivel and I’m not pointlessly shouting into the void. Thank You
So Long, (S)uckerberg!
Hello Patty,
I’m also not looking at Instagram anymore. The Californian libertarians taken enough of my time. I hope that more people will revert to blog posts.
Take care and good luck
Yay – you found me!! So far, I’m enjoying the freedom of a social media-free life! Hope to see you at Glenthorne in September?
Hey Patty, our paths haven’t crossed for a while but just to reassure I do still love your newletter, have clicked on the blog link so it does work, and hopefully I’ll join one of your classes in the future!
Will love to eventually hear why you’ve been blocked!
Barbara
Lovely to hear from you Barbara, and thank you for taking the trouble to find my blog! I hope you’ll get a chance to drop in for the Open Studios event and have a catch-up!
Hi Patty, I suspect that someone, once again, has misunderstood what you’re about. In my case my interest is in modelling for life drawing but I have never considered myself as violating anyones sensibilities but am aware that some people think what I do is perverse and offensive. I will follow your website with interest. In the meantime I will try to figure out what is naughty about papier mache or indeed any of your activities. Peter.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the life drawing page. I’ve heard of that happening to other people. Bizarrely, it was my papier mache page. There was me, thinking dogs and birds were quite innocuous! Nice to hear from you anyway!