Ignoring your social media is worse than not having it to begin with

I have a HUGE pet peeve. People ignoring their social media. 

I know not everyone has the time to be online all day every day, but as a small business or a self-employed person like a writer/author, you NEED to check it periodically. If not once a day, then at least every other day. The world uses social media as a major way of communication. If you ignore it, you're ignoring possible customers. 

Little story here. A few weeks ago I was helping some friends collect donations for a fundraiser we were organizing. The proceeds went to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, a VERY well-known hospital in our area, as well as the entire country. To save time, and to make it easier on us, I sent messages through Facebook to about 20 local businesses asking for donations. Guess how many responded. 4. The rest hadn't even read the message. (Love how FB lets you see when the message has been viewed.)

So…I don't know about you guys, but that leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Regardless if they would have donated or not, all I cared about was a reply. I could have been asking an important question about their business. Business owners need to accept the fact that customers reach out to them in more ways than just the telephone these days. 

In my opinion, if you have no intention of keeping up with your social media, don't have it at all. 

Germaphobes...it's time to just chill out.

This has been on my mind a lot. The other day, after a random post I made on Facebook about my kids going to the play room at the gym, a commenter replied saying: "I'd be too freaked out about germs."

My sincerest apologies to the Germaphobes..and I feel I can call them this because most I know will openly tell you they are a germaphobe, but seriously? I think it's time to take a step back and just relax a bit.

I'm sure most Germaphobes think I am insane for taking my kids into public restrooms and also use them myself. Or for taking my kids to the play room at the gym, or indoor play facilities like Chuck E. Cheese and what not. Or children's museums or the zoo or the aquarium, amusement parks, arcades, etc where people put their grimy hands on things all day long. And oh the horror...we take our kids on an airplane!!!

But seriously....look at all we'd be missing out on if I let paranoia take over.

And I don't look at every human being as a cesspool of germs.

Yeah, everyone got real freaked out by swine flue and the other flus out there and all the other germs. (and I wholeheartedly believe the media is to blame for that) But I'm not gonna live my life in a bubble. I do my best to keep my kid's hands clean and we use hand sanitizer when we're out at places where a sink and soap and water are not easily accessible. Yeah, the kids still gets colds and viruses from time to time...that's all a part of life.

I know I read once that using too much antibacterial cleansers in your house will eventually make the germs immune to it. And actually houses that are a little bit dirty have healthier kids. The kids in immaculate homes never build the antibodies to fight off the common cold and other little viruses.

Some articles I found very interesting:

Life Style Lounge

The CDC

Care 2 Make a Difference (this one's the best!!)

I try my best to be aware of what's going on in the world...but sometimes we have to just turn a deaf ear and let our kids be kids and enjoy life.