Once upon a time, there was a gardener who decided that she should plant a blog in her garden so she could share it with others.

Hopefully, and without much fanfare, she planted the blog, tended it, and watched it grow. Many people visited it, and often they would leave comments to let her know how much they appreciated the opportunity to see and read about her garden.

Then one day, a mysterious stranger came into her garden and offered her some new seeds to sow in her garden. The stranger whispered in her ear, “Plant these seeds, and soon you will have many more people visiting your garden.”

Trusting the mysterious stranger, she sowed the seeds and watch as they sprouted. Soon the plants that grew from those seeds were all over the garden, demanding her attention and taking her attention away from the blog she had carefully tended.

Though at first those new plants seemed pretty, soon they brought with them thugs and weeds and other things she did not want in her garden. And they stole from her! They took away her time. Not all at once, but little by little until they took so much of her time that she had little time to spare for her blog, let alone her actual garden plants.

What were those seeds for?  Of course, they were for the genus Socialmedia and the species were facebook, twitter, and instagram. And within Socialmedia facebook, there were several varieties, all vying for her attention.

Oh, what should a gardener do?

Despondent, our gardener sat on the steps of her porch next to a watering can from which came a quiet “ping, ping, ping.”

“What is that?” she asked.

And her old pal Deema Mae Flowerweb replied, “It’s not what but who! I can help you!”  Just then Deema Mae, the tiniest of garden fairies, flew out of the watering can and sat beside our gardener.

“How can you help me clean up this mess? This Socialmedia is everywhere!”

“It’s simple,” replied Deema Mae. “Just stop tending all that Socialmedia and it will go away and take all of its bad stuff with it. I warn you though, it’s not going to be easy to do. All that Socialmedia will cry out to you from your phone and your iPad and your computer, begging you to look at it, tend it, and water it. But you are going to ignore it and it will go away.”

“How do I ignore it?”

“By doing other things, of course.  Go back and tend to your blog and record your podcast. Maybe even offer up a video or two, but never look at those Socialmedia thugs again. Eventually, they will wither and die and you can see what is left.  But until they are good and gone, keep focused on other things.”

“Other things?”

“Yes, like books and real people and real gardening.”

“But will anyone visit my blog again if I have no Socialmedia?


“Yes, you’ll still have people come and visit your blog, and listen to your podcast and even watch a video or two! They will see that you are hopefully also doing a better job of tending your garden and garden blog because you will have reclaimed all that time stolen by Socialmedia.  You will be amazed by all the new flowers that will bloom once that bad stuff is gone!


“Thank you, Deema Mae. That’s just what I’m going to do.”

“One more warning! There will be others who have a lot of time invested in their own Socialmedia who will not want you to stop tending it in your garden. You must ignore them. Even if they get angry, don’t pay any attention to them.”

“Got it. I’ll stay strong. I know it won’t be easy but I’ll have a lovely garden and garden blog without Socialmedia.”

And so our gardener turned her back on Socialmedia and watched as it disappeared. It didn’t take long. Just a few days. Yes, at first she missed it. She’d wake up thinking about how she would tend it that day, but then she remembered what Deema Mae said.

And soon she saw what grew in its place and she gardened happily ever after.