Few things bother me more these days than the grim reality that is social media.
Once upon a time it was a fun escape into virtual anonymity where people expressed themselves genuinely and from the heart. We wrote the things. We shared the things. We expressed support for the writing and sharing of the things.
Then life got busy for me and writing, blogging, and most other things that I enjoyed in my free time took a backseat.
Now, nearly 9 years later, I'm ready to make a comeback to blogging and writing, but the landscape of the internet has changed beyond what I remember. It's like I have an outdated road map and they put in a freeway, a strip mall, and three Chuck E. Cheeses while I was away.
Hell, I can't even find the blog that was attached to my Etsy store right now, so I'm guessing that got tore down to make way for someone else's craftiness.
I had a point when I started this rambling mess... what was it again?
Oh.... that's right.
The Grim Reality That Is Social Media.
You just checked your Facebook five minutes ago, am I right? It's probably why you are reading this now if I haven't yet lost your attention and you are already back to Facebook, scrolling through the incessant hodgepodge of misinformation, malignancy, and memes.
I can already tell I'm on the verge of losing some of you. There is way too much text here. No pictures! No flashy videos! No GIFS! Just words, endless words that I've at least thoughtfully broken up into shorter blocks of text to make for easier reading.
What happened to reading, anyway? Why is it that we tune out after so many sentences and scroll on to the next shiny meme?
I blame Facebook. Hell, it's got me trained well. If it doesn't get the point across with a picture and a short phrase that makes me laugh, or piss me off at its message long enough to hold my attention, I just keep right on scrolling. We've even got flashy backgrounds to put behind our posts now to hold people's attention.
Because words are no longer enough.
We can now reply with GIFS. Who needs words when you can slap a sticker on a reply and call it good? Even the simple "like" feature has turned into more, and by the way, Facebook's algorithm for tracking your reaction to posts isn't what you think it is. More on that another time.
What was my point again?
Oh yes. Words.
What happened to communication? What's more, what happened to open minded, thoughtful, mature conversations with people you do not know personally (and people that you do know personally for the matter)? What happened to respect of other's beliefs and values no matter how different from your own they may be, as long as they aren't harming you or anyone else? What happened to problem solving and working together to tackle common issues?
Social media happened.
That lovely black hole that is Facebook that used to be about virtually poking your friends and tending your virtual farm and sharing pictures of family and friends has turned into a stinking cesspool of political divisiveness, ignorance, and hate.
Of course, that cesspool is broken up with the food porn, the baby pictures, and the cat memes that everyone came there for to begin with. But go to the comments of any news post and watch how quickly people turn into assholes towards the poster and one another. Watch them take something with no political connotations whatsoever and make it about politics. (Thanks, Obama!) <--- see what I did there?
Watch them hate on each other over who they perceive each other to be based on their profiles. Watch them, in some extreme cases, meddle in one another's real world affairs - in some extreme cases getting people fired or ruining their business based on a comment they made on a Facebook post or a picture they shared on their own wall or a status update that just didn't sit right with someone else.
Are you still with me?
Are you still on Facebook despite the ugliness?
Yes. So am I.
Isn't it about time we changed the narrative?
I've got some thoughts on that.
Stay tuned, and thanks for reading. Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet.
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