More and more people around the world are attaching their screens to their life, and whether you like it or not, social media has become a big part of adventure. Perhaps you’re old school and think that screens have no place in the adventure lifestyle. It’s true that if you keep your face glued to your phone, you can miss out on something great going on in the world around you, but don’t forget that social media is a tool, a powerful tool, and as a tool it can be used correctly to aid your life or misused to damage it.
Social Media can be a pretty dense jungle to navigate, so here are some tips to help you use it to best benefit your adventure:
1. Create Quality
It doesn’t do much for you or anyone else to tweet that you’re climbing a mountain or kayaking a river. The Internet is about getting things instantly, but it’s also about collecting truly great things. Every time you post or add something to a social media platform, you are creating content. Take the time to develop content you can be proud of that people will care about. There are some great devices out there that allow you to capture any adventure (such as GoPro or Lightbox. Videos and photographs are the big grabs, but audio is great too. There are a lot of birdwatchers out there who would enjoy a recording of the mating call of a red-tailed hawk or other bird. Wouldn’t that be so much nicer and more unique than just posting that you saw a hawk today? You could create a whole soundtrack that samples sounds found in the wilderness. The trick is in preparing your devices so that they detract the least from your adventure experience, and that means having the right tools.
2. Research
You don’t have to use social media while you’re actually on an adventure to benefit from it. If you don’t want any screens or wireless waves of data while you’re out and about, that’s fine. Others are doing that legwork for you already, and you can benefit from their documented experiences. Follow travelers on Twitter to better learn about the places you want to go and how to get there. Use apps like Airbnb to find places to stay and save money while you travel. Scroll Tumblr or Pinterest to discover places you never even knew about, but now they’re your next must-go destination. Search Kickstarter and IndieGoGo for better equipment to use. The Internet is full of advice, and social media platforms make locating the right advice for you all the easier. A true adventurer is always well prepared.
3. Stay Safe
GPS apps, weather apps, Yelp reviews, and tracking devices are all there to make sure you don’t take the wrong turn into somewhere you don’t want to be. (there’s actually a few new social media platforms being built around GPS and weather tracking to allow notes and experiences to be shared, providing more of a first hand account and ground view perspective in the information.)
You see, social media isn’t about detaching yourself from the real world, it’s about optimizing your real-world experience. You just have to use it right.
