Social Media: forms of electronic communication, such as
websites, for social networking, blogging, through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages and other content…
Community: a group of people who have the same interest,
religion, race, etc.; a unified body of individuals; a group people with common
interests; social activity; fellowship…
The juxtaposition of these two terms to me seems so ironic. Social
media creates opportunities to form communities of common interests, to share
ideas that bond us together. Yet, contrarily, when ideas don’t support our
interests, we use the social media experience to blast messages and content to
convey contrasting points of view. Perhaps this effort is done to form new
communities. But is it an alternative point of view that we truly believe, or
is it mere a popular point of view that we promote? Understandably, we don’t
live in a vacuum, and messaging, after all, is a part of the privileged right
to the freedom of speech.
Anxiously, we wait to see how many viewers align with our social
media messages. How many people have we convinced? How many have we swayed? How
many have we provoked? How many have we entertained? How many have we gently
prodded? On the other hand, how many have we incited, insulted, demeaned or
bullied? The sleuthed evolution seems to have become the devious destruction of
reputations. Are truths being spread or is revenge being sought? Is our motive
enlightenment or controversy? At times it appears the evolving expression of social media is merely a manipulated player in a blatant power race to reach the perceived finish line.
But that’s just it. What happens when we get to the finish
line? What have we achieved? I hope we can live with the results. Good
sportsmanship, I fear, is gone. One-upmanship has become its replacement. Challenges
should create solutions, opportunities, equality and security. We should aspire
to do our very best. And if the best we can do is mudslinging, scaremongering, email
hacking, collusion, deception and self-gratification, ladies and gentlemen, we
have missed the boat.
We must ask ourselves what are our goals. Are we any safer?
Have we left the world a better place for the current and next generation? In
the process, we need to have created decent role models and not erased respect.
I don’t know about you, but I missed the chapter where the human race was
created in complete perfection, where change was not possible and gratitude was
not appreciated, where apologies weren’t valued and forgiveness not actionable.
Social media may be a player in a competitive power race, but there is no
competition to kindness.
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