Social media has become one of my most important past times. I know it sounds cheesy, since most people use Facebook for gossip, games, or the completely inane. But for me, I found a creative outlet for writing which I didn't know I was craving. From Facebook, I moved up to a blog. I have found writing to be a way to exercise my brain and vent some happy out into the world.
When I do put words down, I try to be funny, clever, and entertaining. To take a moment and successfully put it into words that people enjoy is a challenge and one that I put a fair amount of effort into. Few things make me happier than hearing back how a reader enjoyed my words. Even better is hearing that from people I've never met and for whom what I wrote wasn't even intended. To think that you made the day of someone you don't even know is such a rewarding experience.
But it can go another way. I'm a passionate person. There are issues about which I care deeply and of which I have strong convictions. And I know the feeling I get when I see something on the screen that I find personally insulting or pointed directly at me or people like me. I'm telling you, it pisses me off. Just thinking about it now, I can feel anger & irritation coming up from my stomach and out every one of the pores in my head and out my fingers. Hell, I'm even typing faster. And typing faster means I'm pumping out emotions and not really thinking.
Americans are so adamant about their rights to do what they want, that they don't think about their responsibilities as people. It is a twisted brand of selfishness that completely over rules any sense of compassion for others. People have Facebook and Twitter and every message board out there to voice their opinions and scream their complaints that they don't think about what it means.
When I do put words down, I try to be funny, clever, and entertaining. To take a moment and successfully put it into words that people enjoy is a challenge and one that I put a fair amount of effort into. Few things make me happier than hearing back how a reader enjoyed my words. Even better is hearing that from people I've never met and for whom what I wrote wasn't even intended. To think that you made the day of someone you don't even know is such a rewarding experience.
But it can go another way. I'm a passionate person. There are issues about which I care deeply and of which I have strong convictions. And I know the feeling I get when I see something on the screen that I find personally insulting or pointed directly at me or people like me. I'm telling you, it pisses me off. Just thinking about it now, I can feel anger & irritation coming up from my stomach and out every one of the pores in my head and out my fingers. Hell, I'm even typing faster. And typing faster means I'm pumping out emotions and not really thinking.
Americans are so adamant about their rights to do what they want, that they don't think about their responsibilities as people. It is a twisted brand of selfishness that completely over rules any sense of compassion for others. People have Facebook and Twitter and every message board out there to voice their opinions and scream their complaints that they don't think about what it means.
I have been as guilty of this as anyone. I can debate and discuss and be very reasonable about it. But when discussions escalate, as they sometimes do, I have not been afraid to resort to some hyperbole to illustrate the misguided opinions of others and been out to dispense my own brand of common sense pellets with little thought of the people in my wake.
Which brings me to an off hand post I threw out on Facebook about the Super Bowl commercial from Nationwide Insurance that upset so many people. The commercial is narrated by a boy that is listing all the amazing things he will never do only to reveal that he can't because he is already dead. The commercial talks about child safety.
My first impression of the uproar over this ad was that it was ridiculous. Why would people complain about child safety? Why would they grouse that a downer of a commercial was run during their Super Bowl parties? It seemed so petty, so I responded in my post with ridicule. Maybe not ridicule, but it was definitely dripping with sarcasm because, of course, I know everything.
And then I came across a "Boycott Nationwide" page. I commented there, too. I don't know what I wrote, as I went back and deleted it. Because afterward I saw that a Facebook friend of mine had shared it. That page was full of parents who had lost children and were unhappy with the twist in this ad. I knew that my friend, who I have not known a long time, had lost a child under circumstances with which I am unfamiliar. I like this woman and I'd hate to think she saw what I wrote. Realizing this, I became a bit embarrassed and felt about 2 inches tall.
And I thought, "Is this really the person I want to be?"
As rewarding and euphoric as it felt to make people feel good with my words, thinking that I used the same heart and the same brain to put together words that did just the opposite makes me ill. And I try to remember that when I feel something seething coming up from my belly. I try to take time to think in that space of time between the rolling of my eyes and my fingers tapping about the keyboard.
This isn't about toning down beliefs or being politically correct. No one has to shed their opinions when they go online, because at least for me, debate and the volley of opinions and ideas is one of the things that makes social media social. That's what I like to do.
But prior to dispensing of our snark and before we lay down the law of our own self proclaimed wisdom like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain of the internet, we need to take a moment to consider who is on the other end of the line. Just for a second, stop thinking about what you need to say and consider what those words mean. Take the time to help bring back a more civil and compassionate society.
Which brings me to an off hand post I threw out on Facebook about the Super Bowl commercial from Nationwide Insurance that upset so many people. The commercial is narrated by a boy that is listing all the amazing things he will never do only to reveal that he can't because he is already dead. The commercial talks about child safety.
My first impression of the uproar over this ad was that it was ridiculous. Why would people complain about child safety? Why would they grouse that a downer of a commercial was run during their Super Bowl parties? It seemed so petty, so I responded in my post with ridicule. Maybe not ridicule, but it was definitely dripping with sarcasm because, of course, I know everything.
And then I came across a "Boycott Nationwide" page. I commented there, too. I don't know what I wrote, as I went back and deleted it. Because afterward I saw that a Facebook friend of mine had shared it. That page was full of parents who had lost children and were unhappy with the twist in this ad. I knew that my friend, who I have not known a long time, had lost a child under circumstances with which I am unfamiliar. I like this woman and I'd hate to think she saw what I wrote. Realizing this, I became a bit embarrassed and felt about 2 inches tall.
And I thought, "Is this really the person I want to be?"
As rewarding and euphoric as it felt to make people feel good with my words, thinking that I used the same heart and the same brain to put together words that did just the opposite makes me ill. And I try to remember that when I feel something seething coming up from my belly. I try to take time to think in that space of time between the rolling of my eyes and my fingers tapping about the keyboard.
This isn't about toning down beliefs or being politically correct. No one has to shed their opinions when they go online, because at least for me, debate and the volley of opinions and ideas is one of the things that makes social media social. That's what I like to do.
But prior to dispensing of our snark and before we lay down the law of our own self proclaimed wisdom like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain of the internet, we need to take a moment to consider who is on the other end of the line. Just for a second, stop thinking about what you need to say and consider what those words mean. Take the time to help bring back a more civil and compassionate society.
