I kind of hate social media.<\/p>\n
As of this writing, my online presence comes in three main flavors: Facebook, Twitter, and this blog.\u00a0 Tonight I’m going to talk about how I use these platforms, what I think of them, and where I think social media is going.<\/p>\n
If you’re short on time and you’d otherwise skip this post, please read my Overall Thoughts at the end.<\/p>\n
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I created my Facebook account at the behest of some of my coworkers in 2007 or 2008.\u00a0 At first, I used Facebook mostly to play Facebook games.\u00a0 I played Mafia Wars and Farmville and a couple of other time wasters.\u00a0 I also wrote mini blog entries and slowly started connecting with distant friends and family.\u00a0 In the beginning, Facebook was fine.<\/p>\n
Over time, I stopped playing games on the platform.\u00a0 Facebook developed new features, most of which I thought were okay.\u00a0 The facial recognition seemed a little bit scary but it didn’t ruffle my feathers too much.\u00a0 The in-app chat seemed pretty cool.\u00a0 I was still digging it even as some of my friends and family began demonstrating levels of crazy I didn’t know they possessed.<\/p>\n
I started to really dislike Facebook when they changed the chat to something that you needed to install on your phone.\u00a0 You can still use chat in the browser, but the phone apps were needlessly changed to prompt you to install Facebook Messenger.\u00a0 I will never install Facebook messenger, ever.\u00a0 It wants to take over other parts of the phone.\u00a0 I don’t trust it.\u00a0 I don’t want it.<\/p>\n
With the 2016 election, any remaining good feelings I had towards Facebook evaporated.\u00a0 They sold out to the Russians.\u00a0 That sentence sounds like hyperbolic conspiracy theory bullshit, but it’s true.\u00a0 Facebook knowingly allowed Russia to buy advertisements that spread lies and propaganda.\u00a0 There is no moral compass guiding Facebook.\u00a0 The platform is an expression of the worst parts of capitalism.<\/p>\n
I still post to Facebook from time to time, but my presence there is greatly diminished.\u00a0 There are people I only see through Facebook, so it’s a necessary evil.\u00a0 Someday, I’d like to shutdown my Facebook account and leave it behind forever.\u00a0 In the mean time, I’m still connected.\u00a0 Chances are, you found this blog entry via my Facebook feed.<\/p>\n
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I created my Twitter account in August, 2011.\u00a0 That makes it sound like I’ve been using Twitter for 7 years, but I’ve really only been using it for a little more than a year.\u00a0 Before that, I followed a few people but I didn’t really engage with anyone.\u00a0 Scrolling through my Twitter feed, all I saw were bots and advertisements.<\/p>\n
Last year, I started to find other writers to follow.\u00a0 I posted my NaNoWriMo progress and somehow, #WriteFightGIFClub found me.\u00a0 That’s such a strange name for a writing community, but it’s one of the best communities I’ve ever been a part of.\u00a0 If I hadn’t joined them, I probably wouldn’t be using Twitter much.<\/p>\n
I’ve talked about #WriteFightGIFClub before.\u00a0 It’s an island surrounded by a sea of anger and vitriol.\u00a0 We don’t talk about politics.\u00a0 We participate in writing sprints, we post funny pictures and cute animals, and we provide words of encouragement.\u00a0 There is real friendship to be found in the community.\u00a0 It contains lots of good people, some of which I was fortunate enough to meet in New York City a couple of months ago.<\/p>\n
Let’s get back to talking about the platform itself.\u00a0 As awesome as #WriteFightGIFClub is, Twitter sucks.\u00a0 There is so much anger and political polarization, and Twitter’s administration seems to have chosen the side that supports the Alt-Right and Neo-Nazis.\u00a0 While angry people on the Left are getting timed out or their accounts suspended, others on the Right are getting away with some pretty heinous things.<\/p>\n
I’m sure that some people on the Right are getting their accounts banned, too.\u00a0 But too many are not.<\/p>\n
To put a finer point on this, some Alt-Right assholes used Twitter to get James Gunn fired.\u00a0 Most of the blame should be laid at the feet of Disney, but the Alt-Right guys are still active on Twitter.\u00a0 The ones responsible for killing Guardians of the Galaxy 3 got away with it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, one of the members of #WriteFightGIFClub recently had her account suspended.\u00a0 She was gone for over a week and no one from Twitter told\u00a0her what she’d done wrong.\u00a0 She wasn’t given any way to appeal the decision.\u00a0 She just got booted from the platform for no reason, as far as we can tell.<\/p>\n
She’s back now.\u00a0 Again, they didn’t tell her what happened or that her account had been restored.\u00a0 She opened up the app yesterday and discovered on her own that she could once again use it.\u00a0 No one knows why they suspended her account, and we’ll never know.<\/p>\n
Chuck Wendig had his account suspended for a while.\u00a0 Same with John Scalzi.\u00a0 Pat Thomlinson had his account suspended and as far as I know, it’s still disabled.<\/p>\n
Imagine having built up a following on Twitter as a writer over the course of several years, only to have it all taken away at the whim of a faceless Alt-Right sympathizer working for the platform.\u00a0 Chuck and John and Pat are vocal Left supporters, but my other friend?\u00a0 I’ve watched her feed.\u00a0 She’s sweet and apolitical.<\/p>\n
I want to like Twitter but it feels like that platform is sick or broken.\u00a0 I don’t want to lose #WriteFightGIFClub, but I’d kind of like to see Twitter die.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My blog is not social media.\u00a0 This is a place where I write essays every once in awhile.\u00a0 I’m sharing my writer’s journey with the world here, but this place has low visibility.\u00a0 It’s never going to be like Chuck Wendig’s blog, TerribleMinds.com.\u00a0 He’s created a platform that gets views, a place other people want to write guest posts for.<\/p>\n
That’s not really what this blog is about.\u00a0 This blog is a place for me to work out my thoughts on some issues and share what’s happened in my life as I continue to try and become a professional writer.\u00a0 That will always have a fairly narrow appeal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The phenomena of social media is a realization of the potential of The Internet.\u00a0 The world is made smaller and our cultures are connected through social media.\u00a0 Global communication, a community that knows no borders, is made possible through social media.\u00a0 The human species could grow so much by sharing ideas and cultures and celebrating our differences.<\/p>\n
And yet, people are still people.\u00a0 I want to celebrate social media and the potential for us to grow closer as a society, but that’s just not how humans work.<\/p>\n
There are stories of women that enter into or stay in bad relationships with men, telling their friends that everything will be okay.\u00a0 They can change him.\u00a0 He’ll change if she just gives him another chance.<\/p>\n
People don’t change.\u00a0 Individuals do.\u00a0 A person can repent, turn over a new leaf, and become a saint.\u00a0 Individuals can change but it’s uncommon.\u00a0 If you’re the person staying in a bad relationship, pinning your hopes on the transformation of your significant other, there’s something you should know.\u00a0 That kind of change comes from within and if you’re staying with them, you’re probably enabling them to remain as they are.<\/p>\n
People, on the other hand, don’t seem to change at all.\u00a0 For as bad as we may think the political landscape is today, there are newspaper articles written a century ago that you’d swear were written yesterday.<\/p>\n
I went down a rabbit hole for a little while, but I think I can bring this full circle.\u00a0 In a hundred years, when people are looking through old Internet archives at various Twitter messages, they’re going to find the same kind of content that they see in their futuristic social media equivalent.\u00a0 Nothing changes because people are the shitty boyfriends of the world.\u00a0 We hurt each other.\u00a0 We take advantage of each other.\u00a0 And we never change, no matter how many chances we’re given.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wow, that got kind of dark.\u00a0 Indulge me a moment more as I’d like to end this post on a slightly more hopeful note.<\/p>\n
I believe that individuals can change.\u00a0 When they do, it’s through the transformative power of love.\u00a0 Not external love, though we all need that.\u00a0 The love that changes an individual is love that comes from within.<\/p>\n
When you care enough for someone or something, you’re tapping into a universal constant that has the power to reshape the world.\u00a0 When you truly love someone, you’ll grow towards them.\u00a0 You’ll become stronger so that you can support them.\u00a0 Love will open your eyes and change your mind and force you to see things you never would have seen otherwise.<\/p>\n
As much as I may have bashed on social media tonight, and as much as I’ve expressed a certain hopelessness when it comes to the human race, I do believe that we all have the potential to become better through love.\u00a0 So if you want to change the world and make it a better place, start there.\u00a0 Because even if your love doesn’t change the world, it will change you.\u00a0 Sometimes, that’s the same thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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