The past few weeks have seen a ridiculous number of impactful events cross the American and world landscape: the continued havoc of COVID-19, wildfires in California, renewed calls against police violence as we seek justice for Breonna Taylor, the upcoming American election, Trump himself contracting coronavirus, and now the Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
If all this were happening a year ago, I would probably be tweeting about it several times a day. As a journalist with a history of activism, social media has been an important tool for me to express my ideas, which have often led to invitations to write op-eds and also boosted my platform over the years. But I’ve recently come to the realization that as I’ve shifted my focus from writing op-eds and essays to working on books, social media has become too much of a distraction, and I’ve curtailed a lot of my activity there. I only post on Twitter once a day at most and I haven’t posted on Instagram in several weeks.
I’ve had to wrestle with some guilt over doing this, recognizing that over the years, I’ve developed a strong voice as an opinion writer and exert a certain amount of influence, so choosing not to use that influence on social media sometimes feels irresponsible given so many of the vital things that are going on. But I’ve also come to realize that I have to weigh the short-term impact of my participation in digital advocacy against the longterm impact of my writing, having come to realize how hard it is to work on big projects when I’m distracted by the Internet.
All this is to say that I think it’s okay to disengage for the sake of one’s writing, as long as we’re clear-eyed about the work that we’re doing and how it has the potential to affect the world in the long run. But I do think it’s also worthwhile as the election nears to devote time toward efforts that stand to bolster the chances of preserving that world. I have to admit that I’ve been late doing that, but am planning to get involved.
For instance, my friend R.O. Kwon is organizing a text-banking party with other amazing writers on Wednesday—Nicole Chung, Arabelle Sicardi, and R. Eric Thomas among them—that I’m planning to attend. I hope you can too!
-M.