I was born in 1973. Right in the middle of the Gen X generation. I grew up using the house phone, eating processed foods like margarine on Wonder Bread, and running wild in the neighborhood. All those memes about how feral we were back in the ’70s and ’80s are true. We lived like wild creatures.

Of course, this isn’t exclusive to Gen-x. People lived like we did for centuries before everything changed with the invention of the internet and social media. We were just the last ones that lavished in the pre-everything, unconnected world.

It seems like everything is different now. I tell my kids stories about my youth and they roll their eyes. It sounds unbelievable to them. But for me, nothing has changed things more than the instant communication of social media.

I’ve resisted social media. I’ve even resented it. Uggh.

I like to scroll and watch what everyone else is doing from time to time and I’ve known it’s important and that I should do it but I never totally understood what it’s all about until last week.

I made a reel (short video) for Instagram and Facebook (and soon TikTok) that I had to edit on my computer and add a voice over. It was a simple video of my shooting photos on the Payette River right off of Highway 55.

I setup my iPhone on a tripod with a special fitting for phones and recorded myself walking from the car to my spot with my camera on my shoulder. Then I did a video of myself shooting a photo and looking at it on the screen. Next, I edited the image in Photoshop and recorded it from my computer screen. Then I put all that footage into iMovie and made a vertical video. Finally, I recorded an audio voiceover to narrate the scene. It was fairly easy. YouTube helped. The entire process took about an hour.

I was reluctant to post the video. I don’t relish the idea of putting myself out there like that. It’s unnerving. But my wife has been reading the book by Mel Robbin’s titled The 5 Second Rule where she details a simple premise: Think of something and do it within 5 seconds before you change your mind. Sounds like good advice most of the time but I might add that if you’re angry don’t do anything.

I’ve posted the short video and within minutes I received comments and views. At this point it’s viewed over 10,000 times and it’s still going strong. I sell prints and calendars on my website. If someone local to me orders something I like to deliver in person. I like to meet them and introduce myself. I delivered a 2025 calendar to a nice woman the day after the video was posted. I’ve never met her and she said “I loved learning more about your process in your video.”

It took me by surprise. It made me think about the 10 thousand other people who saw that post. It’s staggering. There is nothing else that I could do to reach that many people in any other way.

I’m not a social media maven or anything but if someone were to ask my advice here’s what I’d say. The most important change I’ve made with my social media was changing in my mind about it.

I decided that it’s not just a good thing that I should do. It’s one of my most important jobs. Maybe even the most important job I’m doing to reach my goals.

I’ve also suggest that they studying social media posts. Take notes, identify patterns and try to understand what’s happening in the world of social media.

I started writing a list of posts I could do that wouldn’t stress me out too badly. I reasoned that if I had a list of the types of posts I can create then I can make a plan for my posts.

If I can do it then you can do it. Even if you’re an old Gen-x’er like me.