SOCIAL MEDIA IS BECOMING ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA
Looking back over the last 50+ years of my life, I have come to realize that not all change is good!
When I was a child through my late teen years, we did not have computers, cell phones, smart phones and gaming stations. We had board games, card games, and the yard. When we wanted to be social we had to walk to the neighbor's house and knock on the door. When we wanted to play games we did it with family and real human friends. We had to physically interact in person with others to have social activities.
We had school, church, scouts, school clubs, and many other physical activities that we interacted with others. We were able to talk to each other and even have differences with each other, but we worked them out in person. We listened to authority and there was no entitlement mindset. If you found someone you did not like you just avoided them. If you had an issue with another person, you actually talked with that person one on one or with others who mediated the conversation to come to a conclusion that both parties could agree on. Normally it was resolved without any future backlash.
People were much more humane and treated others with respect and work issues out in person. It was a different world than today's world. Speaking of my life after my teen years it has been a complete reversal of my teen years.
The cell phone (bag phone) and Atari came out, which most could not afford the cell phone at $1.25 cent a minute. The time using the Atari was controlled by the parents and it came after all school work and chores were done, plus it was played as a family, not as an individual.
It was in my 20's that computers with modems came out and those who could afford them used the BBS (Bulletin board services) for email (Fidonet mail) and it was slow and you had limited time using the phone line in your house to dial-up your BBS Service provider. If it was long distance you only did it once a week for a couple minutes.
Then it all changed AOL came out and a few others with the dial-up internet. The first social media live time interaction started. Yes, it was slow but people started using the chat features and the other things added by the giant AOL. Things still progressed fast until the ADSL, DSL, Cable internet service came out and then the social media craze exploded. The main ones were MySpace, FaceBook, and the AOL systems to interact with others from all over the country and the world.
Parents stopped controlling the amount of time the kids stayed on the computer and it took over the lives of the teens and young adults. Only in the last 10 years has text on phones to smart phones with the internet came super popular. Now everyone has a smart phone or tablet to use the social media platforms of their choice. With this comes major problems.
Behind a keyboard and screen, no matter if its a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone some people have found it a powerful tool to just be hateful, evil, and give them the power to just be as nasty as they want. They can lie, cheat and spread all sorts of hate and discontent behind a digital id with no fear. They are personally detached from this digital person they are acting as on the internet and its social media platforms. Having normal human interaction is becoming a thing of the past. People have their hands on the smart phone and on social media every chance they get. Everywhere you turn there is free wifi so people can be ensured access to their social media platforms. BUT is the Social or anti-social. Look around you today in stores, restaurants, buses, planes, trains and driving down the road, people are glued to their social media and not talking to the person they are sitting beside. Families even sit in a restaurant together but all of the members have their cell phone stuck in their face and they are not talking with each other about their day they and the life they live.
So let me ask you, when is the last time you sat down with others, turned off your social media, and just enjoyed the company with others without the digital interaction. When is the last time you actually sat down with a person you had disagreements with, instead of using social media to blast them and create drama? When is the last time you took the family out to activities and said the phones and social media stays in the car or at home? When is the last time you walked over to your neighbor's house just to be friendly and check on how they are doing? I would bet many of you don't even know your neighbor's name and who they are.
SO MY LAST QUESTION IS: ARE YOU MORE SOCIAL REALLY SOCIAL WITH REAL HUMANS NOW OR ARE YOU ONLY DIGITALLY SOCIAL.
My final thought is when humans talk and look in the eyes of another human than real true conversations and interaction can happen, hiding behind a screen is not a social activity, it's only 1/10 of what humans require for real true social interaction. It's easy to fake who you are behind a screen, but in person, you must be who you really are. Let's BE REAL.
In many ways it is on yourself as a person, if you are honest and speak the truth from day 1 then the issues are then on those you interact with also being honest and speaking the truth, interpretation of written words or even spoken words comes under the heading is it the truth or just shades of the truth. Without being in the presence of another we miss the clues that visual would be giving us so we learn to read the person by not just the words used but also from those not used.
In a perfect world there would be no issues. I deal with both worlds from the same standpoint of what God says: I can forgive the sinner but not the sin and go from there in my dealings with them. Staying unbiased in the drama being created by trolls/haters is a study in having faith in God's will that his shield is around me. Do I believe each and every story told? Nope. The gift from God on discernment is having the wisdom given me in walking away from all in the jungle of lies and letting God handle it as he sees fit.
I can control how I respond and react, what I can't control is how another does the same. Shared...
I agree it's a personal choice. I believe in the truth and it setting you free. I follow the Bible as best I can as a sinful human. For I was born into sin and have to grow and repent of sins so I can try and follow God's word.
I Don't see what this has to do with trolls and haters. I just see it as most people hide behind a digital device and have very little human contact. The influence of the internet on social interactions has almost eliminated real human interaction.
When you reach out to people via PM or Email asking them to talk over the phone or even skype so you can hear the person or even see the person, it's more human than just typing a comment or a post on some platform.
When Men were Men they sat down and talked it out. Now in the world, there is very little one on one interaction. Mostly its group on one or group on group. There is too much he said she said and not enough going to the source and asking and talking about whatever issue there is. What happened to the day of confronting the individual first in private and creating the relationship instead of just gossiping and spread non-truth and lies. Just my take on it.
Are you not doing the same? You are posting online instead of calling or face to face with folks. Digital is a tool no different than any other tool, it is what you do with it that makes it a useful tool or a hindrance. If you feel that the influence of the internet is the cause/action of what is wrong with human contact why partake of it? Again it is just a tool.
I reached out to people and they have not responded. I used email and PM to ask to talk. Gave them my phone number. Also said we could skype. Since I can not visit them since I don't know where they live. I always send email and/or PM to ask to talk. If you can not get a human response when you ask for it, then is it social or anti-social. When you supply a way to contact in voice or in video and voice and get no response then it's anti-social.
See I can call you and talk to you when I have an issue since I can not be at your house. We are adult enough to use a phone to talk.
Others in the world just refuse to talk and ensure the truth is being put out and not just gossip and lies. We both will agree that in the Social media platforms many just put out stuff without doing the research and making sure its good and proper information.
When I have an issue I contact the person in private so we can get the right information and be clear on the subject. If I can't call on a phone then I have to use email or PM. That's the start of the communication. Giving my phone number to them so they can call if they want to clear things and insure we are on the same page. That elliminates lies, drama and spreading stuff publically that might be a bald face lie. So again. If you offer a means to communicate outside of social media and you get no response, then its anti social media.
After the year I have had and am still financially dealing with, at some point you have to either walk away or continue to suffer for it. I came over here because trolls/haters don't survive here, I am finding real folks that ACT like humans.
A question to ask yourself in any given situation like this is "What am I doing that is drawing such actions" my answer was trying to keep family friendly in the pits of hell with demons acting like they were humans and many claiming to be christian.
My solution was getting away from them all, ya can't convince some folks that their education of the bible is wrong if they won't pick up the book. Although you and I differ on teachings we do not differ on you have to pick up the book, that is a start being willing to pick it up. I don't know what the solution is for you, let God lead you, just remember you have to shut up to listen to his words and not your own...
Shalom!