Money for Nothing: Social Media

“Now look at them yo-yos, that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free.” Dire Straits

Social Media. I enjoy using the included Camera app on my smartphone for taking photos of both the micro flora and fauna I find on trail and the macro landscapes and vistas. Obviously, I use a lot of those photos for Instagram! For section hikes, I might post one or two stories from the trail, but clearly, posting to social media uses power somewhat unnecessarily. On day hikes, however, I will frequently post stories. For both section hikes and day hikes, I wait until I get back home (usually with a cold beer) to post threads with photos and details of my hikes. I also blog my section hikes for The Trek, “Quiet Man, Author at The Trek”. During my last section hike, I found that blogging from the trail is quite time consuming and even more power consuming. For thru hikers this has to be a constant challenge. I would think waiting for zero days would be the most economical in terms of time and power. This is exactly what I will do for my section hikes going forward; waiting until I get back home and use my down time between section hikes to update the blog and my own website.

My only Entertainment app: Pandora. There is a good deal of personal preference involved in this list. I personally do not need a lot of digital entertainment on trail. I do not watch much television nor stream movies at home; so, I have no need for these on trail. I do not like audio books and have not gotten hooked on any podcasts. Music is another situation altogether. I am constantly listening to music. I evolved from a 45rpm record only turntable (played one at a time) to classic vinyl album direct-drive turntable to cassette tape recorder to the boom box to the Sony Walkman to the Sony Discman to the Apple iPod. Streaming music services are simply awesome. Which music app you choose is completely dependent upon your own circumstances. I use Pandora because they have a decent yearly subscription price for veterans. On Pandora, I have an Appalachian Trail playlist comprising over 400 songs. However, I will only listen to music in camp because this is one area where power management and energy conservation comes immediately into play (pun intended). I love music, but on trail it is not a priority over communication, navigation, or weather info.