“Social media is the collective of online communications
channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and
collaboration”
Social: “living
and breeding in more or less organized communities especially for the purposes
of cooperation and mutual benefit”
The
purpose of social media was help us get more connected, to share, collaborate, etc.;
especially with people who lived far away. There is nothing social about the
way we see it being used today:
·
Cyber
bullying
·
Hate
Speech
·
Shaming
These are just some of the daily things that happen on social media, and it seems
like we are at the point where this kind of negativity is overtaking the positive
aspect of what it was created for.
What is interesting is that people feel
safe behind their computer screen, they say things to people virtually, that
they would never say face to face. They feel powerful behind their anonymous
keyboard personas, and unfortunately, even the most sane people can fall into
this trap.
How many of you have commented on a
post that was so outrageous you felt you had to say something? Did you change
the poster’s mind? Did you truly feel better after commenting? Did you find
yourself getting sucked into a back and forth cyber war?
The term “keyboard warrior” is recent,
and it describes these cyber nuts who use the internet as their platform for
hate. They have even infected our political discourse and debased it to the point
where there is no discourse, just dysfunction. We cannot even have civil online
conversations with other groups about the important things that affect us
anymore!
I do not know what the solution is, but
I know that ignoring an issue does not make it go away.
Remember the word social in social media, attempt to think of society at large when you post. This is not a kumbaya article, just
a plea for sanity before we are all irreversibly gripped by madness.
Dr
Flavius A B Akerele III
The
ETeam
