First off, let me say that I'm not an old fart. I like technology, specifically social media. I appreciate it's impact and its ability to connect people and catalyze change. That being said, social media has a dark side that has nothing to do with bathroom mirror shots, porn or pictures of a person's dinner. Social media has given us another way to talk waaaaaaaay too much about absolutely nothing!
I remember what life was like before celebrity gossip blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc., and yet me and my fellow human beings managed to live our lives and be fairly productive citizens without the ability to publicly comment to the world about every random thing that somebody did or said. We also managed to get through life without publicly describing every tedious, mundane event in our daily lives. I mean, I truly don't care if you're eating ramen noodles while watching soap operas. Why do you need to tweet that? Why does the world need to know that you like sodium-laden noodles with no nutritional value and bad television? Chile, boo.
Why you got to comment on everything?
Social media gives us all an opportunity to connect through online conversations about an endless stream of topics. Social media has the power to ignite movements and topple politicians. However, social media is also a forum for a lot of people to talk a great deal about things that don't matter, don't warrant extensive exchanges and don't justify the energy it takes to compose a tweet or a FB post. Kim Kardashian and her fellow familial famewhores don't matter. Drake's bitchassness doesn't matter. The random '90s movie you're watching while lying on the couch eating Doritos doesn't freakin' matter. Yet, Twitter is filled with trending topics like these because people are talking about them...just because they can and just because it will show up in somebody's Twitter feed.
The same people who talk about all things shallow and stupid on Twitter/FB also are probably the same bitter folks who comment on a blog post by asking "Why is this news?" If you don't think it's news, why the heck are you commenting about it? Again, talking loud and saying NOTHING!
Yes, there are serious discussions about substantive issues and insightful commentary to be found on social media, yet too often that's a gross imbalance between the silly and serious and all that verbal diarrhea can be messy (ha!) and overwhelming. I'm not saying you can't talk about the silly and amazingly vapid, but do you have to talk about it so much, with the WORLD? Isn't that what talking to your friends, FACE-TO-FACE, is for?
Honestly, I get the need to comment on and tweet/FB about everything that comes into your fool head to a certain extent. When you do these things, you're engaging in a conversation, conversations can be fun and who doesn't like to have fun? Butttt...are you talking about anything important? Are you adding anything to the conversation? If the answer is no, that's fine. But if you're going to go worldwide with your thoughts via social media, just resist the urge to tweet or post that status update unless you have something interesting to say about something that matters. OK? Cool :)
Stay random,
Jay
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