Yesterday I read a post from another blogger talking about the dark side of twitter. I realized that the virtual world of social media is not as virtual as I thought it was. And of course it isn’t. We have people that make money and build careers through social media. We also have people who commit suicide due to rumors on social media. Yes, I am aware of all these things.
Currently, I hold one twitter and one instagram account which both were created for this blog. In the past, I used to hold a facebook account which I deleted six or seven years ago. There was a time that I realized that I was spending too much time just going through the latest posts. Too much time….
And another disturbing thing was that I had friends I no longer wanted to be friends with. There were old schoolmates, even people that I had met once in my life without actually knowing them, their interests, political opinions etc. I kept on blocking and deleting people but some of them kept insisting. I did not want to explain why I did not want to be connected with some of them anymore.
After spending such a long time away from social media I thought that I no longer had the need for them any more.
But, the thing is that social media could be really helpful in case you want to connect with people whom you share the same interests with.To let other people know more about something you have to offer, from a product to just an idea.
Mostly through twitter. I had the chance to connect with people all around the world who also share the same passion about writing and reading. Everyday I have the chance to review creative projects and also share my posts with them. I know that the posts you see here are not actually creative. Not yet at least…. who knows; this might change…
What I mean to say is that friends and “virtual” friends should exist for a reason. Friends should be compatible in some way, not necessarily alike. Should want, and do, what is possible to support one another. Should inspire one another and share things (feelings, fears, etc).
Friendship should not include intimidation or bullying. As in real life we do not need bullies in social media.
I agree with you.
No bullying in life, neither in virtual one.
And I prefer Twitter as well.
Thank you for sharing.
I definitely agree. Social media is such a powerful tool but that means we have to use it with caution and make sure we don’t hurt others.
As Bri mentioned in the comments, the ‘follow/unfollow’ game gets old. I had my own social media detox myself and Twitter is the only one now where I am visibly active. And you’re right, virtual friends exist for a reason, all too often, we forget there’s another human behind their screen who breathes just like us. So far with what I’ve experienced online, it’s nice to be able to just ‘click’ with someone. A few brief exchanges are all it takes to spark a mutual interest.