It's been a little more than three months since country music singer Granger Smith's 3-year-old son, River, died in a tragic drowning accident at home.
In the wake of his family's heartbreak, the musician has only posted a few things on social media, and now he's explaining why.
"I haven't said much on socials lately. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's more that most things just don't seem important enough to share," Granger explained in a Sept. 14 Instagram post that also includes a photo of him with a microphone backstage at a music venue in Portland, Maine.
"We all know that social media has become a mask…a highlight reel per [se], that we can hide behind and appear to promote our best moments of our best days. Eh…that stuff doesn't matter." Granger added that he has, however, enjoyed posting on his family's YouTube channel, The Smiths, "because I can turn on the camera and talk like we're just friends in the same room. No mask."
He went on to explain that he and his wife, Amber — with whom he shares two other young children, daughter London, 7, and son Lincoln, 5 — have approached social media differently in the months since their son's devastating death, with Amber writing more as she works through her grief and attempts to educate and update her followers.
"Amber has continued to post on her socials and I'm blown away by her ability to be so real, raw and engaging in her captions and pictures," Granger wrote. "Once upon a time I had the way with words in our relationship, but now I'm letting her speak for us both. We certainly see the world with our masks off now."
Granger, who's back on the road, noted that he looks at people differently now. "Each night I find myself looking out at faces in our crowd and thinking about all the different stories…all the hidden struggles. We need each other," he wrote.
"Sorry for the random ranting," he added. "Needless to say, I still have to pay bills, promote a tour and promote a lifestyle brand/ apparel line. And I'll get back to talking about that one day. (I love Yee Yee Apparel too much not to.)
"All that said, know this," he concluded. "Life is a storm. Realizing that makes it easier to be grateful for the rays of sunshine."