Is Social Media Good or Bad for Fly Fishing?

Did you know that there are 7.7 billion people on earth?  Did you know that 3.3 billion of them have at least one social media account?  So are 43% of the people on earth doing something that is good or bad for them?  This is a tough question to answer and there probably isn't just one answer for everyone.  

To declare social media as a benefit or as detrimental cannot be a blanket statement.  It is also a moving target in the sense that it might be good for a specific person on one day and bad for the same person on another day.  These are takeaways that have been discussed during my graduate program so I don't want you to think that these are just senseless ramblings or streaming consciousness.  So lets look at some of the details and delve into this topic.

Benefits

There are days that I love social media!  I get to see what my friends, that I don't have enough time to stay caught up with, are doing.  I get to see pretty places and big, beautiful fish.  Seeing new fly fishing techniques, flies, and locations really wets my appetite to get on the water.  I've also connected with a lot of like-minded folks that I never would have gotten to know otherwise.  Heck, even my buddy Corey, who was in my wedding, started off as a friend on Instagram.  

Research has shown that social media can actually be good for one's mental health.  It gives them images and posts that are strategically given to them by an algorithm that knows what the user wants to see.  Just check out my Instagram feed!  It's nothing but folks holding pretty fish, big fish, and pretty big fish.  That's the way I like it because that's what I'm into!

Drawbacks

Of course, there are drawbacks to social media.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been scrolling through Facebook or Instagram and seen some folks on a fishing trip and thought "Why can't that be me?"  That's not a good thought.  In fact, thoughts like that can lead to negative impacts on one's mental health over time.  The long term effects of social media use can actually contribute to depression as well.  

There can also be some pretty nasty interactions on social media platforms as well.  I stay away from Twitter simply based on the stories I have heard about how negative it is.  I will admit that I have allowed myself to get in some linguistic sparring matches with keyboard warriors on YouTube.  That's not anything to brag about either.  Interactions like that sour the entire experience of sharing your ideas, pictures, and videos with others. 

Conclusion

With a few of the positives and negatives laid out now, what is one supposed to do?  Well, only you can decide that.  I've gotten to the point that if I'm having a bad day or in a bad mood, I stay away from social media because when I see a guy holding a 24" brown trout he caught the previous day at Lake Taneycomo, I feel jealous.  That doesn't do much for my mood.  On the other hand and on a normal day, I love seeing my friends have success on the water.  I also feel that there is a lot to learn and ideas to be shared on social media.  What you have to do is decide, is it for you?  Some folks dig it and it makes their lives better.  For others, it takes them down a bad road.  The best I can do is to ask you, does it make your life better?