Social Media: Millennial Witchcraft?
The brains behind the Radical Awakenings Insta feed (www.instagram.com/radicalawakenings), Hailey Kemp uses her powerful voice to tell engaging stories to a world who needs them now more than ever. Having just published her first poetry book, “Dear”, there couldn’t be a better babe to speak on all things social media: good, bad, and ugly. Read on to find out how you can consciously engage with & utilize social media as artform.
I never liked Harry Potter. They kill a unicorn in the first film. But sometimes, I think of that one scene where the wands are flying off the wall. The magic wand picks Harry. I tend to think of social media as a form of instinctual magic. The millennial witchcraft.
Let’s face it - I bet you might be using Instagram as a way to look at astrology and zodiac memes or as a way to look into the life of someone more esoteric than you could live. Instagram and social media can be the same as that giant pink crystal that we know we don’t need but we love. It can have healing powers, can boost us up. But when the crystal receives a little too much energy or attention - it can burst. (This has happened to me multiple times - damn my rose quartz addiction - I just want love!)
So what do we do - well, I like to hope that we can consciously approach social media use like the wand Harry chooses to wield against the dark arts or Voldemort (right?) Like any magic tool - moderation is key. You can’t burn too much incense - your lungs will start to fill. Smoke alarms will go off. It’s a fire hazard. Just like - we can't scroll mindlessly. Or post endlessly.
In the age of marketing through influencers, the things that were once ways of expression have now become another cog in the capitalist wheel. Always selling. Always pushing. Always competing. So - we turn it off. We give it a rest. I don’t do detoxes from social media unless I am on vacation - instead, I try to be conscious in my scroll. Both the accounts I follow and how I am learning. I could do better. I could spend less time looking at skinny white girls. But then again, I have learned so much about who I want to be by looking at those women - because I know they aren’t me. I know they aren't living the life I want, no matter how many vacations they take to deserts and Europe!
When I post I tend to speak what is true to me. Even if it's silly, because when I look back - I like to read how I felt during that time. My Instagram is my little scrapbook. I don’t look at the number of likes weeks later. I look at what I wrote, those shoes I loved, the person that took the photo of me. I am one of those people that has cringe photos from 2012 still on my ‘gram. And I refuse to take them down. I speak my truth in these silly images and professional photographs as well.
I like to think of my “feed” (first of all - what am I a horse?! Do I eat out of a trough?) as the final step on this asinine, but also thrilling, adventure of social media magic by asking myself what will this post make me feel? Now, tomorrow, in six months. Not will these “likes” validate me. But will sharing this (a piece of my heart) give me anything back? This is defining me today - so will I want to be reminded? And being the Taurus moon that I am - I like to hoard my feelings and like a lot of color - so yeah. I click post. And usually, it's a step further into my unfolding, a step closer to depth with the people who follow me, a way to be silly and express in a world where we aren’t allowed to. It’s become my magic wand.
Trust me - the dark magic seeps through. On the days when I am not feeling my body and another skinny white girl is on vacation in the south of France. On the days when my bank account is low and people are buying expensive items. On the days when the news is overflowing and I am already going through it. So I set it down. I write elsewhere. I look at the private pictures that I would never share publicly and remember that there's a beauty I cannot keep, that I would never share because it is mine alone, that lives only in my heart.Not all beauty comes from a magic wand, no matter if it's in your phone, your hand, or in that rose quartz crystal (no matter how shiny it is).
So that's it. My musings on social media. The magic wand that you choose - not the other way around. It doesn’t have to be all bad. I like the creative edits and fun apps. I like the stories and I like seeing my friends kill it in life. But I know my boundaries. My phone isn’t flying off the wall and slamming into me - poor Harry was terrified. I hope you write more and step more into your own. Hey - even if you just take pictures on your fire escape in your pajamas and don’t post them, it’s still fun.
