Social Media’s Digital Demise
Sex. Crime. Gossip. Outrage. Politics… The New Tabloid Has Been Born.
Sex. Crime. Gossip. Outrage. Politics… The New Tabloid Has Been Born.
We live in a crazy divisive time. The word opinion has lost its true definition and is now objectively perceived as an ‘attack’.
If you have a differing opinion it’s at rigorous conflict with someone else’s 24/7. The two can no longer exist in harmony.
Can I give you an easy, real-world example of this?
People are removing their social media friends because of political views. Their personal relationships destroyed because of individual choices that possibly impact less than 1% of your yearly actions.
Unless you’re an activist, you probably vote and that’s it. Do you read full manifestos? Do you flyer neighbours houses with policies you support?
No. We listen to cliff-notes in the news and barely digest it.
So who gives a fuck if Dave next door voted for Hilary?
He looked after your kids when you were stuck at work and threw a great BBQ for the neighbourhood.
Now you think he’s transphobic too, because he still has little Timmy in BOY scouts?
Give the guy a break.
Outrage is the new weapon of choice. Either used to tear down one group of people, or used to elevate another.
The group on the giving side of outrage is perceived as being correct. Regardless of whether their argument is valid or void of substance.
It’s not enough to be right, you just have to be outraged.
This outrage consumed at the rate of Skittles. One after the other after the other.
This turns social media into a minefield. A vicious, bubbling melting-pot of opinions, ready to boil over at any second.
Everything you say (even when you think it’s in confidence) can now be used against you. Every tweet from 2010 can be brought back to haunt you.
“I can’t believe you said you thought Louis C.K. was funny in your 2010 tweet. That guy is a sex-pest. You support a sex-pest!”
This exists predominantly online.
Your dog doesn’t give a fuck what your job is, only that you’re kind and willing to throw a tennis ball repeatedly for over an hour each evening.
Your significant other doesn’t care about barely-informed political opinions. Only that you’re nice to her (in my case), remain faithful and don’t forget to put the bins & recycling out every week.
I went to see Spider-Man last month with my neighbour. I don’t know his political values, his stance on the death penalty or if his dogs are grain-free.
I simply know him as a polite human-being with an awesome taste in movies. A new friend.
Does he vaccinate his kid?
Does he choke turtles by using plastic to wrap his leftovers?
I have no idea.
But intent and outcome are very different things. So are perception and reality.
Let me explain. If someone is offended and you didn’t intend for them to be offended, should you be put on blast publicly? With your entire reputation potentially ruined over one interaction.
I don’t think so. I think intent is a strong factor in whatever outcome has occurred.
Also perception. People perceive things in all sorts of different ways. A guy could be looking over at you thinking “his shirt is cool.”
You could perceive it as “he wants to fight me.”
The reality is much different but we exist in an echo chamber of cognitive bias.
We sometimes see something from a friend and assume it’s true because they said it. No further research needed. I like what they said and therefore it’s true.
That isn’t reality. It’s one persons perception.
I believe that social media gives people a kind of road rage.
Road rage occurs because you’re travelling in a metal box at high speed and everyone around you has the potential to kill you – or harm you, with their mistakes.
It’s a high pressure fight or flight scenario. We sometimes overreact out of fear and preservation. Attacking other road users verbally (or worse) when forced into that situation.
For me, social media has become just that. A motorway of competing road users all on their way to their destinations.
If you cut them up, they are livid. Road rage ensues. They see it as intentional. Malicious.
They react out of fear and self-preservation, for their ideas and life choices.
Everything you do is in the role of a competitor. A threat on their values.
Don’t believe me? How many status updates or tweets have you seen like this?
eg. “If you think/believe in/do ‘X’, then hurry up and delete me as a friend.”
Humans are tribal by nature and social media has connected every tribe imaginable. It’s a recipe for disputes, disagreements and potentially disaster.
I’m taking myself off the proverbial road. Parking my car and going for a walk in the countryside. (Metaphorically of course).
I need to be away from the high pressure online environment that we find ourselves on.
It’s anxiety inducing.
You’re not thanked for being a good ‘driver’, but you are attacked viscously if you pull-out while someone is in your blind spot.
Mistakes are magnified.
Again, that’s a metaphor but just sit back and think about that.
Is it worth being under constant scrutiny? I have no desire to be famous or well-known. Especially not for the wrong reasons. So I don’t need to live my life like an open book online.
Give yourself the power again. Take action. Take yourself out of the mixing pot, off the roads and out of the fire.
Am I being too dramatic? Kids are committing suicide over their lack of likes on Instagram.
Teens are excluded from social circles for their lack of followers.
I believe the ‘social’ has been stripped from ‘social media’ and the new tabloid has been born.
Tits. Crime. Gossip. Outrage. Politics. A buzzfeed quiz about which Toy Story character you are and a sprinkling of Sport.
Does it give you daily value? Or does it strip you bare of self-esteem and fill you with self-doubt?
Do you somehow feel lonelier now than you did when you could count your friends on 1 hand?
This isn’t a cry for help or attention. It’s a call to action… and I’m taking it.
Are you?
Geraint Clarke
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