Post by Beyle on Jun 15, 2021 1:26:40 GMT -4
I've always had a love/hate relationship with social media. I was a late adopter. I'm hardly on it anymore, and I've noticed the positive change in stepping away from it. I haven't outright deleted my accounts because I have friends and acquaintances who still use them. And sadly, they tend to give out their news on social media. I get it. It's easier than calling and texting everyone you know, but it will always feel less personal to me. As a result, I'm sometimes one of the last people to find things out. I'm OK with that, though. I never want to become beholden to social media. Others might have more positive experiences with social and that's fine. I'm not judging their use of it, nor would I claim to know whether they're getting any benefit out of using the platforms.
Social media provides access to people you might not otherwise meet. People can share their lives with others, feel more connected to the larger world, and even commiserate with one another.
Over the years, it's been my experience that oftentimes social media is a cesspool of trolling, bullying, and constant whining/"woe is me" stuff. There have been days where I was afraid to log on for fear of becoming emotionally drained. It sounds ridiculous that something like social media can affect people's psyche so much, but it can (and does).
Granted people can make the same argument about internet forums. And it's true, there are plenty of forums where you can similarly find toxic behavior. Even so, I prefer interacting with people on internet forums. I've made some long-lasting friendships that were built up over time on forums. The same hasn't been true, for me, with establishing friendships through social media. These tend to be relationships of a more superficial nature that rely on sharing one or two commonalities. Also, social media promotes the idea of false intimacy where some people think they can know everything about you, based off what you post to your social media accounts. These posts/tweets/etc. are merely snapshots into a person's life. I'm not talking about chronic oversharers, but rather your average user.
To tie in my response with the latest in the Chrissy Teigen: Internet Bully saga, I've never understood people choosing to use social media as a way to troll and bully others. The object behind social media is to be social, not adversarial. I don't RT, follow, or give any sort of energy toward people I don't like and respect. I've had friends and acquaintances who occasionally do the RT stuff, but I've never understood why. There's enough bullshit on social media that it seems stupid to seek out ways to get angry and upset. I know people who follow/have followed Chrissy over the years and have even RTed stuff. I could never understand why they like her so much. She's not funny and has never been snarky funny. She's meanspirited. The fact that this has become her schtick is sad. I'm not how sure how being a bully is appropriate in any circumstance. I know about Chrissy, but have never really paid close attention to her antics. I don't care about her to do so, but these people coming out about her private Mean Girl DMs to them? She's a lot worse than I had realized.
I've never purchased anything with her name on it or endorsement, so I don't feel bad on that end.
It's great that she wrote an essay about how sorry she is, long after being exposed. I hope that she learns from this, but I don't know how she can ever be forgiven. We're not talking about her teasing a friend of hers on Twitter. She slid into a 16-year-old girl's DM telling her to commit suicide. That's pretty egregious, and we're probably past the point where she will ever be able to make up for that. If the people she's targeted want to forgive her, than that's their business, but I don't trust much of what she says. She's only apologizing because she has to at this point, even if it isn't sincere. It's damage control. She can't wave away her responses to people anymore. They are bringing the receipts.
Social media provides access to people you might not otherwise meet. People can share their lives with others, feel more connected to the larger world, and even commiserate with one another.
Over the years, it's been my experience that oftentimes social media is a cesspool of trolling, bullying, and constant whining/"woe is me" stuff. There have been days where I was afraid to log on for fear of becoming emotionally drained. It sounds ridiculous that something like social media can affect people's psyche so much, but it can (and does).
Granted people can make the same argument about internet forums. And it's true, there are plenty of forums where you can similarly find toxic behavior. Even so, I prefer interacting with people on internet forums. I've made some long-lasting friendships that were built up over time on forums. The same hasn't been true, for me, with establishing friendships through social media. These tend to be relationships of a more superficial nature that rely on sharing one or two commonalities. Also, social media promotes the idea of false intimacy where some people think they can know everything about you, based off what you post to your social media accounts. These posts/tweets/etc. are merely snapshots into a person's life. I'm not talking about chronic oversharers, but rather your average user.
To tie in my response with the latest in the Chrissy Teigen: Internet Bully saga, I've never understood people choosing to use social media as a way to troll and bully others. The object behind social media is to be social, not adversarial. I don't RT, follow, or give any sort of energy toward people I don't like and respect. I've had friends and acquaintances who occasionally do the RT stuff, but I've never understood why. There's enough bullshit on social media that it seems stupid to seek out ways to get angry and upset. I know people who follow/have followed Chrissy over the years and have even RTed stuff. I could never understand why they like her so much. She's not funny and has never been snarky funny. She's meanspirited. The fact that this has become her schtick is sad. I'm not how sure how being a bully is appropriate in any circumstance. I know about Chrissy, but have never really paid close attention to her antics. I don't care about her to do so, but these people coming out about her private Mean Girl DMs to them? She's a lot worse than I had realized.
I've never purchased anything with her name on it or endorsement, so I don't feel bad on that end.
It's great that she wrote an essay about how sorry she is, long after being exposed. I hope that she learns from this, but I don't know how she can ever be forgiven. We're not talking about her teasing a friend of hers on Twitter. She slid into a 16-year-old girl's DM telling her to commit suicide. That's pretty egregious, and we're probably past the point where she will ever be able to make up for that. If the people she's targeted want to forgive her, than that's their business, but I don't trust much of what she says. She's only apologizing because she has to at this point, even if it isn't sincere. It's damage control. She can't wave away her responses to people anymore. They are bringing the receipts.
