I woke up a few nights ago because of something someone had said to me via social media. There is no need to repeat it wasn’t nice, and if I hadn’t been wearing my big girl pants, I might have got a bit Nancy about it. But since starting the blog and using social media big girl panties are my knickers of choice they do nothing for my love life but my skin has amazing buffering qualities because of them.
Social media is amazing. It creates so many good communities online often leading to greater ones offline it’s the modern day personal page, and we have created one the most amazing community ourselves. The FIFO wife Facebook community runs a Support Sunday each Sunday and is social media in all its beautiful technological glory. It’s exactly how social media is meant to be used. There it has made the world a smaller more familiar fun creative place it has demonstrated the good and human in people but alas it can allow people to get their meanness on.
The flat words that appear on the computer screen seem emotionless it stops people thinking a human is on the other end of what’s being written. They think meanness is just part of social media, its to be expected and its free speech. They think that what they type into their electronic device doesn’t hurt. Doesn’t stick a little to the person on the other end, or perhaps they know it does, and that’s the whole point I’m missing.
And yes when you post its the same theory online as a celebrity and the paparazzi to a point. You and your opinion are open fodder, and I am open fodder here and on other sites. I’m not so naive I know it happens. Well maybe I am naive but I like the idea of opinion its how we evolve as humans. I like that my opinion isn’t yours, and yours isn’t mine you learn stuff that way. What I don’t like is opinion is being mixed up with meanness or meanness is getting in the way of a very good point of view. And meanness is contagious take it long enough it’s hard to shake off. It incites more meanness and for those previously unaffected its hard to fight. Its sticks or takes just a little good from you. It weakens your defense until you have caught a case of the mean.
It happens like that it’s like catching an unwanted herpes virus not that herpes is ever wanted but neither is the mean because two weeks ago I was mean to a girl on Instagram. Not my proudest moment but the past few weeks have been first world problemish for me on social media; such a great excuse for being mean, my problems naturally become yours. So when I saw something I thought ‘wrong’ I heckled her because as I typed those words into my phone in the middle of woolies to her on the other side of the world I felt better. However as soon as I posted my comment I hung my head with the word fuck what did I do that for because it didn’t achieve anything. It was like eating the entire block of Cadbury. It felt good at the time but when inhaled did nothing but make me feel sick and regretful. She posted back rightly so telling me to get my facts straight. I commented back with an apology because I was wrong. She in turn apologised for being mouthy and needless to say we are now following each others accounts, and I have since learnt you can delete comments on Instagram.
So what to do about this nasty virus? The cure? Just stop being mean. It’s a choice so just don’t be. You know when you are so just stop it. My naive theory here is that if you stop it then it will stop elsewhere. It’s not hard to choose good over evil. Meanness will not get someone to change their opinion if anything it will turn them off not only you but your opinion. Think about the words as you type them because without the meanness are your words something to be considered? Would you type these same words to a friend, your mother your son your daughter someone that you love?
I doubt it and yet if after all that considered you still hit the enter key with conviction then you need take yourself out to find some loving, serious lamp smashing loving. Some loving to heal the whole world of hurt you got going wrapped up tight in all that meanness and if that fails Big W currently has a great special on 2000 piece jigsaw puzzles.
Image is with thanks to here.
