By now most of you know that I just turned 45. I’ll be honest, initially the number was freaking me out. But as I’ve reflected on getting older, I’ve gathered some perspective on aging. I believe age is a mindset. I don’t believe I’ll become old at a certain age, I’ll become old when I stop trying new things. I’ll become old when I stop learning new skills. When my growth mindset goes away that’s when I’ll become old. When I stop trying, learning, and growing I’ll become a dinosaur. And friends, 45 is just too young to be old.
Being that I’m 45, I’m of the generation where social media became popular when I was well into my 30s. Eventually, like most of my contemporaries, I came around and joined Facebook. Most of us stopped there. Recently I was among a group of friends and one said that she had migrated over to Instagram but she wasn’t yet comfortable using the platform. She only knew how to post pictures and had no idea how to use stories function. The others nodded in agreement and another declared, “I’m just too old to learn all that!”
First, if you haven’t migrated over to Instagram yet you probably should if only to keep tabs on your kids. Say, your kids are not on social media? They will be eventually so why not understand the platform now before they become users. Second, did you know that 400 million people are using Instagram stories everyday? While there’s certainly no requirement to keep up with social media trends (it’s ever-evolving and time consuming, I get it) I kinda feel like stories are the direction social media is headed. And just like most of us who eventually caved and joined Facebook, it’s probably time to get up to speed on the new social media wave. If you need more convincing, here are three reasons why you should learn how Instagram stories work:
- Your kids are using Instagram stories (or they will be soon). I KNOW you want to know what they are up to.
- It’s a fun way to quickly share a part of your day/life and you don’t have to worry about coming up with a clever caption or even a good picture.
- Most of us like keeping up with our friends on social media but, as we all know, it is very time consuming. With stories you can quickly tap through and catch up with your friends in a lot less time than it takes to scroll through your social media feed.
Convinced? I hope so! Ready, set, go!
Here’s a short video tutorial on how to use Instagram stories. Once you are on, don’t forget to follow me @lunchwithagirlfriend and I’ll follow back, friends.
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