Muting the Beast
Social media has become this great big all-encompassing force in our lives. It’s like the weather or taxes—so much a part of day-to-day living that we just assume it is the way it is and there’s no changing it. We should back that truck up.
The problem is that social media is opinion driven. Which, hey, is another way of saying it is not fact driven. It’s no accident that the Kardashians have way, way, way more followers than the National Institutes for Health or the CDC. That’s the dark side of the force; social media companies work their butts off to feed us opinions that reinforce our own narrow perceptions. Then we get all fired up, log on more, engage more, and click more ads. That’s the equation. Titillation pays off a lot more than information does.
It can all seem pretty harmless. After all, it’s just vacation pictures or one person’s stand on this topic or that. No big deal, right?
Wrong.
It’s a really big deal. Social media is designed to echo chamber the holy heck out of us. Wrongheaded (read: “batshit crazy”) “opinions” turn into flat-out misinformation and lies. Round and round it goes. The propaganda gets embraced and taken for gospel … no matter how crazy it is. And that, my friends, is how you get millions of people who don’t believe science, but are positive that space lasers are zapping voting boxes and that there are nanobots in vaccine shots. After all, it must be true; they read it on Facebook.
That’s the great big macro issue. But it doesn’t stop there.
Because opinion—any opinion—is given space and validity on social media, people feel free to spout off any nasty, baseless, disgusting idea they have about anything. Including you and me. That, there, is the micro part of the equation. Big picture, the “opinions” hurt public health; writ small, they screw with self-esteem.
I’ve learned early on how to deal with, respond, or block people who want to pass judgment on me. It’s part of being a social media influencer.
More casual users, though, aren’t quite as savvy. I’ve seen some shocking and appalling comments on personal accounts, nasty stuff that is just out of bounds. Judgy comments about people’s kids, jobs, houses—whatever. It reminds of a saying I once heard: “You don’t make yourself taller by stepping on somebody else.”
If I had my wish wand (shout out to all my fellow Harry Potter fans!), I’d wish everyone had to run their social media commentary through a kindness filter before posting. You never go wrong when you’re coming from a place of compassion. Wouldn’t that be a helluva thing, a social media world where courtesy and compassion ruled the day?
The problem is that social media is opinion driven. Which, hey, is another way of saying it is not fact driven. It’s no accident that the Kardashians have way, way, way more followers than the National Institutes for Health or the CDC. That’s the dark side of the force; social media companies work their butts off to feed us opinions that reinforce our own narrow perceptions. Then we get all fired up, log on more, engage more, and click more ads. That’s the equation. Titillation pays off a lot more than information does.
It can all seem pretty harmless. After all, it’s just vacation pictures or one person’s stand on this topic or that. No big deal, right?
Wrong.
It’s a really big deal. Social media is designed to echo chamber the holy heck out of us. Wrongheaded (read: “batshit crazy”) “opinions” turn into flat-out misinformation and lies. Round and round it goes. The propaganda gets embraced and taken for gospel … no matter how crazy it is. And that, my friends, is how you get millions of people who don’t believe science, but are positive that space lasers are zapping voting boxes and that there are nanobots in vaccine shots. After all, it must be true; they read it on Facebook.
That’s the great big macro issue. But it doesn’t stop there.
Because opinion—any opinion—is given space and validity on social media, people feel free to spout off any nasty, baseless, disgusting idea they have about anything. Including you and me. That, there, is the micro part of the equation. Big picture, the “opinions” hurt public health; writ small, they screw with self-esteem.
I’ve learned early on how to deal with, respond, or block people who want to pass judgment on me. It’s part of being a social media influencer.
More casual users, though, aren’t quite as savvy. I’ve seen some shocking and appalling comments on personal accounts, nasty stuff that is just out of bounds. Judgy comments about people’s kids, jobs, houses—whatever. It reminds of a saying I once heard: “You don’t make yourself taller by stepping on somebody else.”
If I had my wish wand (shout out to all my fellow Harry Potter fans!), I’d wish everyone had to run their social media commentary through a kindness filter before posting. You never go wrong when you’re coming from a place of compassion. Wouldn’t that be a helluva thing, a social media world where courtesy and compassion ruled the day?
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message 1:
by
Wei
(new)
Oct 05, 2021 01:24PM
20 years ago there was no cyber bullying now its all over social media. Instead of bullies using physical and psychological fear into others its now the trolls typing away in their basements. If left unchecked the monster will be out of Pandora"s box. We all just need to be nicer to each other and hope that karma sorts it all out.
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