“Social” typically carries with it
a positive connotation, it’s synonyms featuring words like “convivial”, “companionable”,
“pleasant”, “friendly”, and even “polished”. And if “media” is, in a nutshell,
the communication by publication or broadcast, what does that information tell
us about social media? Well, clearly it describes a setting in which
participants (we’ll call them engagers) can communicate companionable, friendly
and polished expression. Did you just hear the record scratch?
Let’s backtrack
a moment.
Finish the following sentence: Social
media is…
It’s likely that there will be no
clear cut answer and surely, while some thoughts on the issue might be similar,
none will be quite the same. Perhaps this is because social media is akin to a
cloud: to some it’s nebulous, amorphous, murky, to others it may be daunting,
disheartening, and to others still it could easily be incredible, beautiful
even, the very avant-garde platform that the world was collectively searching
for. No wonder everything is stored up there. In the cloud.
People everyday are succumbing to
the politics of social media and relying on different social media platforms to
get through the day: Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, Tinder, Bumble,
Linked-In, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pinterest, Skype, Flickr, Foursquare, Blogger, the
list could go on for pages. What’s more is that these platforms typically host
a world of information, and so much of this information is either negative,
careless, toxic, or malicious: far from companionable, friendly, and polished. There
are a lot of catalysts beginning with social media that have both negative and positive outcomes; I’m not ruling out the wonderful possibilities that
social media has the potential to offer.
Take a journey with me through time
back to the year 1535, the year that represents the first time the
colloquialism “penny for your thoughts” was written down by Sir Thomas More.
Some might observe that a penny is too little to charge for their thoughts and
the offer can be deemed offensive, but the little known fact that a penny was a
silver coin worth a large sum more than today’s small copper Abe proves
otherwise. Alas, the idiom has failed to keep pace with inflation. Anyway, the
point is that so many engagers post their thoughts in snippets (or even express
their approval or lack thereof by clicking the “like” button) on social media
about the goings-on in the world in lieu of taking action irl (in real life,
follow?). There are plenty of people that are fully engrossed in and committed
to the life of an awareness raiser who hold imaginary stakes and pitchforks,
ready to attack, or who hold theoretical peaceful signs of protest, but can’t
figure out a way to express their solutions in a viable manner with real human beings.
It’s called virtual courage.
This next part requires complete
honesty; proceed with caution. How many of you posted something to do with the
#PrayforParis movement? How many of you actually did pray for Paris? How many
of you said to your parents, “Mom, Dad, instead of the new Apple Watch for Christmas, could
we send a care package to a solider or two?” How many of you used your
influence in your fraternity or sorority to mention donating to shelters in
Paris or other victimized countries? How many of you went and visited the
pediatric wing of your local hospital to brighten a child’s day with the company
of a kind stranger? Or did you just like the post on Facebook that said “If I
reach a hundred likes, my mom said she’ll buy me a puppy/car/boob job!” When’s
the last time you soberly told a person of interest that you think they are beautiful or
that they are incredible face-to-face? The last time you did that via text, DM,
or double-clicking on Insta? Is anyone else hearing the alarms sounding or is
it just me?
To the thinkers: maybe it is time
to be doers.
Penny for your thoughts? More like
a million for your actions.
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