The Story of a Social Media Novice and the Current Political Climate
In 2012, I decided to join the social media world by creating a profile on Facebook, even though I was not a fan, and I thought that social media platforms were only for the socially inept (and since I never considered myself part of that crowd, it was not for me.) But I decided maybe it was a good idea in order to keep in touch with family and you know, friends that I have not talked to in years (though if I lost touch with them, I am sure there was a reason). After a few months of tolerating others political and religious memes, I decided that maybe Facebook or any other social media outlets were not for me.
In 2015, I did attempt to rejoin social media through Google+, not as busy or popular as Facebook, but for someone with my temperament, it seemed a lot more peaceful, “zen” if you will. Less people on it, picking groups that I wanted to follow. (No family members or friends to post memes that I really wished they wouldn’t have shared. I really liked it, and still do, more than Facebook. It seems more “mature” than Facebook. I know Google is not going to like this said about their social media platform, but it’s for people like me, who want to keep up with the ever changing technology platforms but not feel overwhelmed. At 45, I hate feeling overwhelmed any more, in my youth I reveled in a challenge (which in my 20’s, well let’s just say I am glad there was no Social Media then because who knows what kind of pictures would be out there of me, and don’t get me started on cell phones pics), anyway, Google+ was more of my current speed.
Then in the Spring of 2016, I quit a part-time job with a local attorney’s office for financial reasons but wanted to stay in contact with some of the women who worked there and sincerely enjoyed being around. They were all on Facebook, so I decided to give social media, a try once again, to keep in touch. First, I was surprised byat the fact that my Facebook page was exactly the same as I left it four years previously, it was creepy to honest with you. It was like leaving a room and then entering it four years later with the same dirty clothes are on the floor, the bed unmade, and with two inches of dust on the bed post. But I dove in it anyway, even though I still don’t know what I am doing (like what’s the difference between the “Jamie” page and the “Home page”?), loving the pictures of my family, particularly of the great niece and nephew (now nephews). I really tried to ignore the memes shared by family members who political viewpoints are completely opposite then mine, so very opposite. And wWith the 2016 election season, it just got uglier and uglier. And now with an obtuse, bigoted, reality star as President of the world’s only Superpower, my country, it’s going to get a whole lot uglier.
A Little Background...
As I stated, I tried to ignore the political memes from family and friends, but anyone with a passion or obsession should be able to to tell you, it is very difficult to ignore. Just to let everyone know, my political background includes a Bachelor in Political Science and a Masters in Political and Justice Studies (Ok, that came from my CV or resume), I’ve been involved in human rights in some capacity (as a volunteer and/or donator) since the age of 19, and my Master thesis was on genocide, so you could guess where I land on the American political spectrum. So, telling me to ignore these memes and seemingly uneducated “opinions” is ridiculous, you might as well tell me to ignore the homemade chocolate fudge sitting in my refrigerator, which is impossible. Since a young age, I watched the news and absorbed it all in...enough to where my father (more on him later) would tell people, “she’s just a sensitive child” when I would cry at the at politicians talking of war or harming others on the news.
The Ugliness
One point to make about the ugliness on social media, especially Facebook, is that we forget children are on it, not mine, but others. As I said, I am glad Facebook and other social media wasn’t around in my 20’s and am particularly grateful that it did not exist as a child, though I’m pretty sure that my father would not have allowed me on any social media at the age of 9, 10, 11 or even 12. I am sure at 13, I would have fought with my mother about letting me on it, but we barely had a phone that stayed connected throughout my teen years because money was tight, so any internet or data plan would have made the same fate as the home phone. (So the answer would be “no” I would not have been on social media as a teenager if it would have existed). Actually, the most surprising thing to me is when people let their young children get on social media. Sometimes, I think the other adults, like me, forget that when we politically express ourselves on social media, whether it’s through rants (like the one I had election night) or memes. I have friended those children (nieces and nephews who are my sons’ age). I am not going to tell others how to raise their children, but for me l limit my sons to Roblox, YouTube Kids, PBS Kids, and educational sites, but I am nerdy that way. They actually think it’s a privilege to play “Cool Math Games” on the internet. Anyway, many of us forget that there are children that may be paying attention, and this election season brought out the ugliness that you don’t want children to see. Right or wrong, I feel that social media is not where children should learn about politics especially when a lot of the information are just lies. This was part of the reason I try to ignore the political lies and meme on Facebook, but it cuts deeply when they are posted by people you love. I should “unfriend” those nieces and nephews, but I am not sure how they would take it. Well, how do I avoid spreading the negativity to my younger relatives?
So at this past Thanksgiving, my older sisters (whose children are millennials) introduced me to Twitter. They explained that I can choose who to follow and most of our conservative relatives do not seem to be on it. The reason for them to guide me to Twitter was to avoid me upsetting family and that my rants would be limited to 140 characters. So for the past three months, I have been on Twitter and am enjoying keeping up on my local, national and international news, with some opinions being shared. Although there is an ugly side to Twitter too..
One of the worst things about Twitter is that we have a soon-to-be leader of the free world and the world’s only Superpower, using this platform to make foreign, economic, and domestic policy via social media. He also uses it to insult his critics. Along with most Americans, I believe Twitter should block his account as it would with any normal person who uses the forum to abuse others (which reminds me, I need to stop following the White House and @POTUS tomorrow). Besides this idiot, who thinks running the United States will be easy, there are other idiots on Twitter, strangers who will “troll” you if they do not like what you say or “heart” (as my 8-year old says). One of first few days on Twitter, I “hearted” a comment someone made toward a neo-nazi/white supremacist (It was funny.) Then the next thing I know I receive a message with the animated swastika saying “Welcome to the Fifth (or Fourth Reich), Mommy” with a picture of Donald Trump floating by in front of the swastika. At the time, I did not know you could “block”, but I did figure out that I could “mute”. So I muted the loser, whoever it was. That would be the ugliness of Twitter, it seems you can be trolled much easier. Of course, maybe I need further experience with this platform.
The ugliest part of social media and an issue that got a lot of media attention is the “fake news’ phenomenon. Not so much that there has always been propaganda in the media, but with social media (and the internet in general) it seems that this “news” gets passed without any regard to facts much quicker. Even before the popularity of social media, email was another medium in which “fake news” was passed around, but social media and hand-held instant access has made it much easier and faster to disperse information. It amazed me how everyone passes around information without double checking it. One example was explaining that California did not “legalize” child prostitution a but passed a law protecting child prostitutes (minors) from being charged as a prostitute in order to encourage these children and young adults to seek help, but does punish those adults who engage in transactions with minor sex workers. The original distortion was posted by a conservative pundit on their Facebook page, and then passed around by many of my own relatives. Even I couldn’t believe it, and as a human rights activist I was like, “What the hell?” So I took five minutes and searched “California child sex trafficking law”, and within a few minutes managed to find the news story on the internet. I read the summary of the law, and responded to those relatives exactly what were the law’s true intentions. This passing around of misinformation and sometimes outright lies is the biggest reason why Social Media can be so ugly, especially when Americans seem the most politically divided than ever before. The public seems to want to blame the social media companies. Personally, I think that we should blame users. One should not use these platforms then think that they can just walk away from accountability for passing around information that they do not know if it’s true. I really think that we need to use our common sense and a little “fact” checking before someone passes on something that is “news”.
The other part of social media that is very disturbing is the ugly memes that continuously pass around belittling or hating other groups. The worst type of propaganda is spreading lies or “opinions” about another demographic or religious groups. It seems that people who share a common hatred have found a very public place to voice their “opinions”. Yet many of these same people would not say these things out loud to a diverse crowd or even other family members, but don’t mind passing around these news.
I think that social media can be a useful tool, but like most things, it depends on the users. With today’s political climate it is best to use these social media tools with caution. For me, I will use it from now on for human rights activism, educating others on legitimate places to check information, and correcting misinformation when I am able to do so. I do need to learn to use all of the platforms a little better before I can use them effectively. But I will definitely be learning all of them over the next four years because it’s going to an uphill battle for all three issues.
*As a note, today I fact checked a meme that is being passed around Facebook claiming that an American veteran killed two Syrian refugees for raping his daughter. http://www.snopes.com/sergeant-gregory-hayes/. It would be simple to Google a story like this. If it were true, I am sure that there would be at least a local news story to find. This is exactly how propaganda is started. “Repeat a lie enough, it becomes truth.” I think social media users need to develop and utilize critical thinking skills. For example, this meme had no specific information, such as where did it happen? When? How? You know simple questions, so someone can check out the information, even a simple online search could have stopped this hate from spreading.
