Social Media FAQ: The Hermit in the Town Square Yes, I’m online. No, I’m not built for this. Social media is one of the most challenging parts of being a writer today. I don’t come by the label “hermit” by chance. I prefer quiet, depth, solitude—and yet, here I am, in the digital town square, trying to be heard over the fire jugglers and brand mascots. This FAQ exists to answer the questions I get most often, and maybe a few I haven’t been asked but wish I had. It’s honest, occasionally cranky, and (hopefully) helpful. Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/facebook-application-icon-147413/ What social media platforms are you on? The list shifts like tectonic plates. As of now, I’m on Threads, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Skylight. I also have a TikTok account, along with a few others quietly gathering dust. I’m still searching for my homestead in the social media sprawl—somewhere functional, semi-peaceful, and not owned by a billionaire with a god complex. ...

  "When the gods fell silent, we invented algorithms. When the prophets disappeared, we logged on." Once Upon a Time, We Needed Meaning Once, humans gathered around fires to whisper about gods and monsters. The thunder wasn’t just noise; it was the fury of a sky god. Illness wasn’t random; it was punishment or possession. Storytelling wasn’t just entertainment. It was survival. It was how we made sense of storms, death, birth, betrayal. It wrapped mystery in metaphor and gave chaos a name. Story is the oldest technology we have. Long before the written word, stories helped us pass knowledge, encode values, and connect through shared belief. They made time feel less cruel and fear less lonely. Myths gave shape to the unknown. Legends gave us heroes to root for, villains to blame, and destinies to fulfill. The machinery of myth has always served the same core function: to turn confusion into clarity. Whether carved in stone, chanted in caves, or passed from mouth to...