Social Media…Isn’t Really
This is no great revelation, but the term “social media” is kind of interesting…because most of the posts you’ll find there are anything but polite and “social”.
I used to think that those who replied to posts with a nasty and harsh tone were only doing so because they wouldn’t dare say those things to the person in person…now, following the summer of riots across the country, I’m not so sure.
I personally don’t post that much that would warrant a response from anyway, and since my follower base is pretty limited, I see those responses. So if someone replies or whatever the phrase is, I’ll know.
That’s not the case for people like the President, or a U.S. Senator…so I have yet to understand why someone who clearly hates, for example, the President, will not only follow them on Twitter, but then reply with a nasty and frequently profane comment. It’s not like the President is going to see it…well, probably not, anyway. Is it just cathartic? Is it so the replier can make their own reputation, when the replier’s own followers then retweet or post a further reply?
Seems like a lot of effort going for very little purpose. The “there, I showed him with my own 280 characters” thing is a bit of a mystery to me. Yet there it is, what passes for political discourse these days.
I have no issue with replies I receive pointing out mistakes…I wrote trillion instead of billion in one post recently, a major mistake caught by a follower who politely pointed it out so I could fix it and apologize for the error. I have no problem with people who are open minded but disagree.
It’s the posts that make you feel like the person is sitting in a dark corner of their parents’ basement, with the only light being the glow of the screen and their only joy in posting something perhaps only they read…those are the ones I feel are an non-social use of social media…and a waste of time better spent in other ways.
