UNITED STATES—I get this question all the time and people tend to be surprised by my answer, but I reply, “Why?” People are literally dumbfounded when they discover that I am not on social media. That’s right America; I do NOT have a Facebook page, a Twitter page, Instagram, Tik Tok and so many other social media platforms. Look, I understand the craze, because I was an undergraduate when Facebook was just getting its bearing and see so many of my counterparts spend literal hours on social media communicating back and forth with people I could not understand it.
Yes, social media is a great place to mingle and communicate with friends, family and hell, an actual form of employment. I hate the notion of people coining their job or career as a social media influencer because it makes me wonder, what the hell would you do if social media doesn’t exist: exactly! With that said if it floats your boat so be it, if you post something and everyone buys it as a result more power to you. Doesn’t work on me, but whatever.
The thing about social media is that its dangerous people. Some people just spend hours on end on social media and do nothing else. Retweeting, reposting, liking, whatever you call it that everyone else posts. Your life becomes social media and that is damn dangerous. Probably the big issue with social media is the factoid that people just have word vomit and don’t think before they speak. Free speech, does not protect you from idiotic speech, hate speech or what some would call cancel culture.
People post things all over social media not realizing that the past can come back and haunt you. It is in the cloud as people call it. You say something ignorant or controversial guess what America it can come back to bite you in the butt. At the same time you’re going to have to explain your stance on that particular issue or topic, where people don’t necessarily agree with your claims.
In addition, hate speech, I’m never in favor of it and sometimes people are hateful on social media. The things people spew and saw are just disgusting at times. People love social media because it gives them the opportunity to say things and hide behind a computer screen America. Yeah, they’ll put it out there in the public sphere, but they would NEVER say it publicly to another person or directly to their face.
Free speech is free speech, and it should NOT be censored, but hate speech, violent speech that is NOT acceptable and it should not be tolerated in any capacity America. Why it happens I cannot explain it, but it does day in and day night. On top of that, EVERYONE has an opinion on social media, and it drives me nuts, just because something is news or people deem it newsworthy does not mean the entire nation has to comment on it. You have the right to voice your concerns, but guess what just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you always have to do it. We live in a world where people just feel this need to comment on everything, how about using that energy to make a difference in the world. Where did that go people?
Like this week, Elon Musk buys Twitter and people act as if it’s some game changing news. Hello America, where were you when Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post. That didn’t make news the way this Twitter purchase did and it should raise the question: WHY? No one is talking about that and it just baffles me. The question we should remember is that the rich are just getting richer people, but again a conversation we’re not having.
Social media is another form of communication; it is NOT supposed to be your life. There is more to life than posting how you think and feel about a particular issue, what you do and such. A lot of people including celebrities are learning tweeting about your lavish home and what is in your closet makes you a target for crime. People had not thought about that danger when it comes to social media in the past, but guess what, now they are. Before careful what you post it can indeed come back to haunt you as noted before.
I guess I am old school America, I believe in picking up the phone and talking to people. I don’t believe in just communicating via social media or other platforms that have become dominant in our lives. I guess this makes me an enigma and I’m ok with that. I’m NOT an open book; you’re not going to learn everything about me from looking at my social media profile or what I post because nothing exists. Let’s get to know people more outside the realm of social media, which is nothing more now than a new form of being a celebrity. The difference is social media can now make you a celebrity overnight, until the next sensation comes along.
