After making the decision to cut back drastically on my social media activity, I felt it was time to lay out my manifesto for the future of my online presence. Here it is.
Henry
The Battlegames Blog Is Back
Events elsewhere have led me to conclude that this is where I want to be
Interesting – as someone who has avoided social media for various reasons and has never been able to negotiate Faceplant, it’s nice to know I wasn’t missing anything!☺
More seriously, I think it’s responsible for much that’s wrong with the world…
I have been happily blogging away, mostly about my Soldier King Imagi-Nations project and the battle to paint armies of Spencer Smiths – all started long before it was trendy. It’s kept my mental health on an even keel despite dark days and challenging life events.
Like Chris says, a diary to remind you what you’ve achieved…..
Neil
Thanks Neil – and well done with your blog. Running a magazine and a business meant that social media played a big role for a time, but now I’ve made the decision to change tack and I’m looking forward to finding the time to make the most of it!
Henry, I think social media is easy to get sucked into, but it’s a bit of a “bubble” (South Seas?) where it creates a sense of intimacy, immediacy and sense of its own self importance and necessity.
In reality, it’s just a platform for ill informed, opinionated and ignorant individuals to hold forth with views that in the real world would be squashed as soon as uttered. These individuals are allowed equal footing with rational, intelligent and articulate discourse in the name of “free speech”.
The worst consequence is that all sorts of nonsense and conspiracy theories originating in social media are being accepted as “fact” and real world behaviour is becoming as unpleasant as that which occurs online.
A wise decision to retreat from such a toxic environment; the world is challenging enough!
Neil
And welcome back. As someone else who has also abandoned 99.5% of social media for all of the reasons you state, I welcome your return to blogging. I miss forums too, as they were a much better mechanism for discussion than Facebook, Twitter etc., where discussions flare up and then dissipate in a very short period. I recall forum discussions that lasted months, years even as various elements were chewed over in good grace. I wish you all the best with the ongoing battle to wrestle a living out of the changing world and I look forward to your future work.
Thank you Paul and yes, I remember having some incredible, long-lasting chats on forums. Everything has descended into drive-by commenting nowadays, driven by the algorithms.
Take care Henry. You are one of the good guys.
Thank you!
Welcome back, Henry.
Some of us never left blogging. I’ve always felt that a blog fulfills the function of a diary. I rather miss the Old School chat group, but as you rightly say, being a media poster across more than a couple of feeds is just too time consuming.
Kind regards, Chris.
https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/
Thank you, Chris. I also think that blogging is very different from social media – a subject needs to be worthy of the effort, rather than just off-the-cuff thoughts.
Indeed, social media is such a thing that draws deeper and deeper into its networks. As a result, you eventually realize that you spend more time on social media than on your hobby. I am sincerely glad for you. May God grant you health for at least another thirty years! And I was pleased to note that your economic system is just superimposed on the systems of tabletop role-playing games, like DnD. It creates truly stunning pictures of countries!
Thank you Dmitry!
Hi henry…I’ve looked on your ‘Wargaming Campaigns’ download site for the weather patches to put on playing cards, but can’t seem to find them. Are they there and I’m just not seeing them?
Hello Michael.
Blimey, you’ll need to remind me of which page in the book that refers to. A lot has happened in the last two and a half years and it’s possible the material has been digitally mislaid, but I’ll look into it.
Henry,
It sounds as if you have made all the right decisions. Maintaining one’s mental health is vitally important as it can affect both your mental and physical wellbeing.
As you know, since 2020 I’ve had colorectal cancer (which was dealt with by surgery), prostate cancer (which has required chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as ongoing regular injections of Zoladex), and now axonal polyneuropathy that means that my mobility is impaired. There have been some dark days along the way, but thanks to all the support I’ve received, I’ve managed to keep fairly mentally fit.
Looking back, I’ve also reduced my online and other commitments and it has helped considerably … and I’m sure that doing what you are going will have beneficial effects on your wellbeing.
All the best,
Bob
Thank you Bob and you certainly have been through the wars in recent years. I can only admire your fortitude in the face of such adversity.
And you’re so right, one’s ability to cope with physical challenges is directly linked to our mental health and sense of having support amongst friends and family. How very telling for me that this post has immediately brought forth more support than any number of tweets or Facebook posts.
Wishing you all the very best, Bob.
Good luck Henry! I’m following by RSS and I think this is the right thing to do.
Thanks Martin
Tip for any Feedly users: it seems to prefer the atom feed https://battlegames.co.uk/feed/atom/
The regular rss feed, https://battlegames.co.uk/feed/, isn’t showing the latest post for some reason. It does work elsewhere so this just for feely users.
Good to hear this Henry. I agree totally with what you say about the time sink that social media has become which leads you to spending so much time online catching up on what’s happening in the hobby in so many different places that you end up having no time to take part in the hobby that we love and enjoy.
I joined Facebook simply because if I wanted to find out what was happening in a particular gaming group and I’ve stayed simply because, as you say, there is a fear of missing something.
But, as with many things, the time has come to try and focus on a few topics and cut back on the scatter gun approach that my hobby has become. It’s time to focus on hobby projects that I can finish and actually take part in and cutting down the places I felt I had to visit on social media the better.
One cautionary comment, I too used to blog back in the day and really enjoyed it but eventually found that even that became so all consuming that I wasn’t getting any hobby done to actually write about it. I know it should be different for you as it will be part of what you do to earn a living, but still, make sure you take time to actually play some games!
Cheers
David
Thank you David and I’m glad the post resonated with you. And you’re absolutely right – it’s so easy to forget that at the centre of it all is what’s supposed to be the hobby we grew up with and love. The re-focusing should be beneficial in many ways.
Good move Henry. All the people who seriously want to follow you will find you here or like me on Patreon. I have enjoyed your patreon podcasts for it seems years!…and others can do the same. Making it all “easier” on X made too many people lazy and you get 1000s of angry “followers” who don’t actually read your work or engage, so are really a waste of space in many ways 🙁 Sad that you and many are finding out the painful way… Go well my friend!
Thanks John and yes, it was a salutary lesson discovering that ‘followers’ does not necessarily equal ‘friends’!
Good luck, Henry! I added you to my RSS reader, though I get your Patreon updates. Here’s to focusing our projects without (too many) distraction.
Cheers James, much appreciated.
Hi Henry, this has to be a good move. My own experience on Facebook is that a feed once filled with posts from friends and family is now clogged with adverts for goods and services that I have no interest in. Twitter, from what I hear, is a rather toxic place. Both sites just absorb time, a commodity which is too precious to squander defending yourself against people who seem to be offended by anything and are spoiling for an argument. Well done on cutting your ties to such places. Keep well.
Thanks Mark, much appreciated.
Totally understand and agree with your take on social media. I can see Bluesky going the way of twitter so have come off there in advance. Just a forum and a blog for me now. Much slower, much quieter, but after the initial withdrawal symptoms and having to readjust, much happier.
I am slowly coming to understand that I should post online because I want to. Not because I crave likes and attention. I have been hunting down blogs and reading well worded articles of substance, there is a lifetimes supply of them out there, so why try to reinvent the wheel.
Hopefully spending less time doomscrolling will be as good to you as it had been to me.
Salut!!
Thanks Michael. I’ve been readings lot about digital detoxification and I’m sure it will indeed be beneficial.
Good to see the website back up and a plan in place. I can relate to your social media traumas as I too have dropped all but BlueSky and desperately need to resurrect my blog before it hits a year of no posts…
All the best
A
Cheers Andy and it would be great to see you blogging again!
Wait, what? A second edition of the Compendium?!? Very exciting news!
Yes indeed, John! After 12 years I finally managed to negotiate the return of rights from the publisher, so now it’s mine to do what I like with it. A second edition is long overdue and of course there’s the potential for an audiobook and other derivatives.
There are an awful lot of us trying to figure out the same things. The ground has shifted under us – take that as you well – and everything is changing. I’ve been looking at reviving my blog as well. The struggle is real and I appreciate reading how you are adjusting as I try to make the adjustment myself. It’s a loss and dealing with a loss is easier with friends.
You’re absolutely right, Nicholas, it’s a kind of grief we’re dealing with. It’s as if a favourite pub has suddenly come under new ownership and attracted a very rowdy new clientele. I think it’s also accepting the fact that as I get older, I really haven’t got the energy to argue in online spaces – and why should I? I’m there for the hobby which should bring me peace! Good luck on your own journey.