Some people poo, poo, Facebook as if it is malignant. I think it’s how you use it that counts. Some use posts and comments to share enjoyment, to congratulate, to share opinions, to learn something, to advertise, to garner support or simply to share some news with family and friends. Others use social media to belittle, abuse, vent, attack and oppose another’s opinion. We’ve all done some or all of the above. I know I have.
It can at times be difficult to interpret the motive behind the words. The written word at face value can mean different things to different people. Hence, the liberal use of emoticons, exclamation marks, and abbreviations eg lol, which I mistakenly once thought meant little old ladies, until I became enlightened. ☺
Trolls, people who abuse, stalk, harass, bully, threaten via comments or messages are a part of 21st century media. and will never be eliminated whilst you have people who want to see how much mischief they can stir up or how they can bait the unwary.
I think my biggest concern is the lies and deliberate deceptions that are becoming more frequent. Spin and doctoring of the facts is alive and well. While people have differing values it will never stop.
The other major concern I have is the increasing amount of very unsavoury posts that manage to infiltrate our pages via bloody annoying hackers. Who try to dump pornography onto our space or invade our posts with spam trying to sell Ray Ban sunglasses and the like.
A third concern is the manner in which the FB administrators don’t allow some posts, such as a breastfeeding woman or an indigenous woman’s breasts as part of culture but allow other posts which I find way more repugnant. NRL footballers appear to be masters of this. I guess here again it’s a matter of personal values and public tolerance.
All media owners have at their fingertips the ability to control what is published and what stays out of the limelight. It is up to the readers to learn how to find out what is truth and what is a lie.
The bottom line is don’t believe everything you read and hear is fact. Young people particularly need to be given the opportunity to learn the difference. From political spin to photo shopped images everyone needs to regularly remind themselves that not everything they glean via the internet is true. Sometimes they are fictitious rather than factual.
Today’s epiphany. 😊
tbs2539 