The Social Media Vortex & Memory Keeping

For the longest time, I've resisted being sucked into every popular social media app. I succumbed to Facebook long after the hype, then realized that I could keep track of a lot of high school friends and even some of my family. I've also become friends with a lot of scrappers! 

Pinterest is great because it's like having a digital file cabinet! Then, I decided to tweet as part of a work-related experiment. And now, Instagram has been added to the list, thanks to some research I've been doing for a work project.

There's no doubt that social media can be addictive. And do I really need more things sucking up my minimal free time? Not really. But one reason I really like Instagram, provided I don't spend too much time surfing through the zillions of photos online, is that I found a way to capture life on the go! 

It's no secret that I'm into memory keeping. Yes, big surprise. :D  But the fact that I can capture my life in daily photos in a few minutes rather than doing a layout?? Lemme at it! The big challenge is keeping it to about a photo a day (sometimes it's hard to take just one!) and finding something interesting to share.

Here is some of what I posted for fun this week:

Yes, I actually took a picture of the garbage can at the curb. I had planned a photo of my street lined with garbage bins, but most of my neighbors had already taken their bins in by the time I got around to taking the photo. Maybe it doesn't really seem that significant right now, but I can still remember when I was growing up that we had those metal trash cans. I think we actually had to drag those out to the curb - not an easy thing to do when the can doesn't have wheels AND the can is full! See, right there - a memory that can be scrapped about my childhood. :D

Similarly, the pic of the noodles on the shelf can be turned into a layout complete with a story about a favorite childhood dish, which I've now adapted to fit into my gluten-free diet.

I know that lots of you are doing the Photo-A-Day/365 project. I even get daily emails from Katrina Kennedy's captureyour365.com. I haven't been reading the emails on a daily basis, although it would be helpful in trying to capture daily pics for Instagram. Coupled with Project Life or scrapbooking in general, there is definitely not a shortage of page ideas.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not planning on using only my phone for photos. I use my DSLR at least five times a week, and I keep a pocket-sized point-and-shoot in my purse. But I am definitely going to try to take a variety of photos, a minimum of one a day - something I've tried to do the last two years, but haven't been successful in completing. (Sometimes I get too caught up in what I'm doing to actually capture it - that's my story, and I'm sticking with it!)

Oh, and if you're interested in following me on Instagram, you'll find me under "cyranoscrap." (I'll add a link to this page, once I've figured out how to get Blogger to keep crashing when I try to add it.)