I use social media A LOT. My mother regularly tells me to put the phone away at the dinner table and I can’t sit through a movie without sneaking a peak in the dark at least once. Yes, I’m addicted. But it is also a part of my job. As a community manager, I need to be ‘on’ 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But what happens when all that gets too much?

My most recent post for FRANk Media talks about the stress invovled with being ‘on’ all the time, and the companies using this for thier latest campaigns.

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Take a break…

Snack favourite Nestle KitKat will this week launch a new campaign, Social Break, that will automatically send updates to subscribers’ social media accounts, minimising the stress that comes from updating multiple social platforms.

Launching in Singapore, the downloadable widget allows a user to have updates sent on their behalf to nominated social media accounts including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, including liking posts you are tagged in and retweets. While the app is a clever marketing gimmick, it also highlights a growing problem – especially among Gen Y – that being social media addiction or stress.

With so many social platforms now part of our daily lives, more and more people are feeling the pressure of maintaining a social presence with just over half of respondents to a recent survey indicating that being in constant contact on social media was interfering with their job, studies and ‘real’ life.

Time to Switch Off?

While the KitKat app is designed to make things a little easier for users by updating their social networks for them so they appear connected, Kangaroo Island’s most recent campaign encouraged users to take the 24 hour switch off challenge, disconnecting from all their social media networks on April 28 for the sake of their own mental health and our society.

A number of bloggers took up this challenge, taking a full day to have time out took advantage of a widget developed by Kangaroo Island to advise users who visited their social media platforms that they were having the day off.

This initiative followed research indicating that heavy users of social networking sites should have at least one ‘offline’ day a week, in order to counteract our 24/7 ‘online’ lifestyles.

But I’m Lonely…

These initiatives to simplify our social lives come just days after a report in the Sydney Morning Herald discussed how almost a quarter of Australians are living alone and are lonely, often turning to social media for friendship, connections and confidants.

We no longer make eye contact with people whilst walking down the street; we sit at restaurant tables glued to our mobiles and we email people sitting three desks away. But online, we never have to be alone.

Together, Alone.

So which is it? Are we become a society of isolated individuals, chained to updating our social media networks and immersed in others’ lives through a series of status updates and tweets? Or are we lonely and seeking meaningful human interaction which, in the wake of our busier than ever lives, is only possible via social networks?

Last week I was invited to Don’t Tell Mum, a retro inspired hair salon in Thornbury, for a lesson in retro and vintage hairstyles by the fabulous Lexi DeRock .

You would imagine having a name like Lexi DeRock would raise expectations and I was not disappointed. Lexi was very clever in the hair styling and makeup departments, a highly skilled teacher, AND she has spent copious amounts of time in Paris. Amazing, no?

Originally from America, Lexi has spent time in the city of love, honing her craft in all things hair, beauty and fashion, before coming down to Melbourne and working with Don’t Tell Mum. The salon is decked out with a car (yes, A CAR), hair accessories, clothing and all things 50s, 60s and 70’s.

After checking out the store, it was time for our lesson to begin and I was perched in front of the mirror, ready to rock and roll. Having decided on a 50s style (this is one of my fave era’s of fashion!), we planned on doing pin curls at the front of my head – 3 in fact – which is the easiest way to start out when you are learning (just in case they don’t match!)

Now, I will confess, I thought the whole thing would be easy. I thought I was pretty savvy in the hair styling stakes but it turns out I was a little bit wrong. While it’s not hard per se, it certainly will take some practice. We started with curling using a flat iron (to create body), then sectioned and backcombed and prepped for the curls.

And this is where it got complicated. I had to twist and contort my wrist to get the angles of the curls right, then pin and tuck the curls without squashing them. I think we did this about a dozen times. (And I thought I was a quick learner!!)

But while I felt I wasn’t getting it, Lexi assured me I was picking up the technique rather quickly. Sooner, rather than later, I had three barrel curls atop my head and was looking every bit the vintage pin up – minus the make up and the outfit.

Lexi gave me a copy of her book, Decades of Style, so that I might take a step by step guide home to further practice my skills and hone my technique, including make up stylings! You can pick it up at The Vintage Garage and Sixties & Seventies, both vintage stores located on Smith St Fitzroy, on online.

Check out this fab video put together by Jennifer Estrada (on an iphone 3 no less – talented girl!) and visit Lexi at the Don’t Tell Mum salon in Thornbury before she jumps on a plane back to Paris next month and you miss your chance to learn from a pro.  She will return at the end of June though, so use your forward planner if you are busy til then. Don’t Tell Mum are also a full service salon (with a retro twist) so if you are in the area, so stop by!

Thanks to Lexi and Tracy for having me at the salon and teaching me the tricks of the trade!

Aurelio Costarella at MBFWA. Photo by  Jennifer Estrada