Hello everyone, my name is Steve and I am a long time fish keeper, pretending aquascaper and all around planted tank enthusiast.
For a number of years I maintained a very active feed on Instagram under the user name mn_aquascape. It's still there, and has a ton of information on my experiences in the hobby, but I haven't touched it in more than a year. Over time I found myself chasing some undefined goal... how many likes can I get, how many comments can I generate, how many posts a week? It never ended. On top of that, the IG algorithms seemed odd and I never understood which of my posts were seen by who, and more importantly why I would see certain posts. It became underwhelming and the harder I tried, the more disconnected I began to feel. The pandemic didn't help.
My kids were growing older, we accomplished some other very important life goals, and I decided to downsize my hobby in favor of being with my family. It was fantastic!
Recently, life has returned to a more normal pace, work has settled in, kids are more self sufficient and I find myself getting back into the hobby. In fact, now the kids love it, and they want to be part of it with me!
I'm happy that I kept most of my equipment. I cleaned it up before storage, and tucked everything away nicely. It has been wonderful to pull things out, plug them back in, and get going again quickly. The fish and plants that remained through my "hobby drought" have bounced back nicely and are thriving again under more careful attention.
I can't imagine I am the only hobbiest frustrated with the metaverse/reddit empires of social media platforms. Am I the only one that feels disconnected and frustrated by the oversight imposed by these platforms on hobbiest groups that stiffle the exchange of ideas and livestock and plants? I'm tired of people that hide behind the faceless names on these platforms only popping out to troll others and make inflammatory remarks and comments for kicks and giggles. I'm optimistic community can still exist online and I look forward to the growth of forums such as these.
I am curious, what are some of you doing to survive the seasons of your hobby? And do you look forward to a brighter future in forums like this?
Take care, and see you around!
--Steve
For a number of years I maintained a very active feed on Instagram under the user name mn_aquascape. It's still there, and has a ton of information on my experiences in the hobby, but I haven't touched it in more than a year. Over time I found myself chasing some undefined goal... how many likes can I get, how many comments can I generate, how many posts a week? It never ended. On top of that, the IG algorithms seemed odd and I never understood which of my posts were seen by who, and more importantly why I would see certain posts. It became underwhelming and the harder I tried, the more disconnected I began to feel. The pandemic didn't help.
My kids were growing older, we accomplished some other very important life goals, and I decided to downsize my hobby in favor of being with my family. It was fantastic!
Recently, life has returned to a more normal pace, work has settled in, kids are more self sufficient and I find myself getting back into the hobby. In fact, now the kids love it, and they want to be part of it with me!
I'm happy that I kept most of my equipment. I cleaned it up before storage, and tucked everything away nicely. It has been wonderful to pull things out, plug them back in, and get going again quickly. The fish and plants that remained through my "hobby drought" have bounced back nicely and are thriving again under more careful attention.
I can't imagine I am the only hobbiest frustrated with the metaverse/reddit empires of social media platforms. Am I the only one that feels disconnected and frustrated by the oversight imposed by these platforms on hobbiest groups that stiffle the exchange of ideas and livestock and plants? I'm tired of people that hide behind the faceless names on these platforms only popping out to troll others and make inflammatory remarks and comments for kicks and giggles. I'm optimistic community can still exist online and I look forward to the growth of forums such as these.
I am curious, what are some of you doing to survive the seasons of your hobby? And do you look forward to a brighter future in forums like this?
Take care, and see you around!
--Steve