I'm not the most avid social media user. I've never had a Facebook account or practiced trolling my friends with the bullshit of my day. I just joined Twitter and ran with it. I run a Twitter account and this blog. That's as far as social media I've got. Twitter was hard for me to understand at the start. I think it is for everybody who joins up.
I share and retweet posts of interest, fun stuff, cools links that my audience may find of value. I enjoy Twitter, I never assumed I would build up a following or Internet audience.
As follower counts grow it can inflated the ego, give you a buzz and fed a attention seeking manic mind. Nothing is as wonderful as a random stranger on the internet retweeting your thoughts or liking you tweet. Maybe I had something interesting, entertaining and useful to say after all.
I like the idea of sharing online, but it has its share of major arseholes. People who will slag each other off because they disagree or take offense by something that was meant as a joke.
Social media offers us a voice of approval and disapproval. It can bring out the jerk in you as you hide behind the wall of the web. I don't intend to insult anyone on Twitter, if you take offense or get angry I can't help that. That's your choice. The problem with social media is the instant reaction to things and situations.
The breaking news, the gossip, politics, football defeats, animal pictures, porno and self promotion all cause us to react or bite. Social media stimulates us to foam at the mouth. Giving us a hit of pleasure or pain. We can have a good laugh at others expense, spread hate and rant at others behind the safety of our avatar.
I understand the value and appeal of sharing online but often I feel exposed when I share how I'm feeling or what I think about a subject or a person.
As your follower count grows you'll come across people who just want to fight, argue and fire out abuse. Before the Internet is was harder to get into arguments with strangers. Taking the piss and friendly banter is one thing yet calling total strangers a "dick", "stupid" or "boring" is insulting. In the real world do these rude people walk down the street shouting "fatty" to the obese, call women in mini-shirts "sluts" and scream at the homeless to "get a job".
We can all judge by saying nasty, ill informed and incorrect things. If you're slagging off people and saying terrible things and your account isn't protected your are broadcasting to the entire Internet that you're a dick.
I follower many informative, fun, strange and spoof accounts. Social media is suppose to be an online conversation yet sometimes social media can be a turn off. You can label me how you want. Talk behind my back, follow or un-follow. If I disgust you can even block me and never hear from me again. That's democracy in action with a simply click.
Twitter is now my pastime. The highlight of my day, I use it to check the news, laugh at jokes and bitch about society and complain about governments.
You can use social media the "right way", "the wrong way" or your way. When it comes to my blog and my social media I can choose the platform and how I use it just like you.
When my wife Jen joined Facebook she wanted me to sign up too. She told me it was a way to keep in touch with family and friends. I saw it as a shallow popularity contest to see who has the biggest friend count. What could be sadder than having a 500+ Facebook friends that you never actually see or haven't talked to since primary school.
Facebook is Evil. I've never had a Facebook account and I never will. Facebook users probably aren't my demographic anyway. The model is based on the idea of fitting in, which I never quite have. We are glued to tiny little worlds on screen as society and the environment crumbles around us.
For the teenage generation I think it's harder for them to say no. Their friends are on it and it's the place to hang out, where the buzz and gossip happens. Then you read the reports of cyber bullying and how kids are killing themselves after receiving online abuse. Imagine bullying someone so much that you have a role in their death.
What could be sadder than young people committing suicide due to harassment and feeling isolated when the whole world and future is at their fingertips. Social media adds to the misery when you see family and friends having fun while you're dealing with your self-doubt and demons.
If Jen got her way I would have signed up for Facebook but it never happened. When you're married to a Facebooker and not on it yourself you see that you don't need it to validate love, real relationships and friendship.
I have zero friends on Facebook. I see Facebook as a way to "cheapen" relationships and saves you from having to make the effort with people you already know whereas Twitter lets me listen to the wider world and discover new and interesting people and subjects. Thank goodness Twitter Isn’t Facebook.
If you spend a huge amount of time online I think social media use effects are health and wellbeing. I think it makes people more distant and puts social pressures on us. I admit I'm more of a social media loner these days and don't tweet to spark up debate. I'm tired of talking and listening to the stream of noise. Most of which is in my head.
I look at social media content, the advice I can't follow, the moaning updates and the hate that doesn't make me smile anymore. Either that or it's full of shitheads trying to sell me something.
Digital communication has made the world smaller and turned us into a bunch of clickers. Although it would be disappointing for your carefully crafted, side-splitting update not to go viral.
How boring and unoriginal as you witness the same joke and meme circle the social networks for the thousandth time, stolen from its creator without any credit or a paycheque.
Of course if you do use Facebook you can to share Sad Purple Dove on Facebook and remember to keep signing into your account every day, clicking on those mindless likes, letting them harvest your personal data because social media is all about making profit isn't it?
We've become social media consuming puddings. Before the Internet we used to socialise in the pub and talk over the dinner table. You could go outside without taking a selfie. You recorded a mix tape from the radio. If you wanted to chat you'd pick up the phone and dial.
Social fucking media, it's buttons, it's marketing buzz, it's distractions from what's important. Technology is diminishing our minds, it's turning us into drones, followers who aren't aware of our surroundings, staring into screens of the abyss. What has social networking reduced us to?
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