(anti) social media??

Sometimes my mouth gets ahead of my brain, and I end up getting involved in things that I shouldn't.

I find this to be more true on social networking platforms than in my face to face interactions. Not that I am not outspoken outside of social media, but I seem to have a better handle on knowing when to let something go.

Social media is so wonderful in many ways. It lets us interact with people who are living a distance away. It lets us reconnect with people from our past that we've lost touch with. It allows us to share our thoughts and details about our lives with those who we choose to let see.

But there is a darker side to social media. Because we are not face to face with someone, we sometimes feel that it is OK to weigh in on topics that we ought to stay out of. Not that it isn't OK to have an opinion, but it's easy to behave in a way that contradicts how we would behave otherwise. Passive aggressive behavior runs rampant on these platforms. People will post or say things just to jab at others. There seems to be little to no repercussion for this type of behavior. People become scholars in a subject because they have information readily available on the internet. People can verbally attack one another because there is no visible reaction like there is real life.

Last night, I found myself in a debate about a topic...with someone I had never met. They were bent on arguing with me and belittling with sarcasm and swearing. For a moment, I got sucked into it and rebutted. Then my senses kicked in and I realized that it just didn't matter. I wasn't angry that the person didn't see eye to eye with me, more so, I was upset that the person would react so rudely. As if this rather insignificant topic somehow made them so mad that they thought it was OK to lash out.

And that's when I realized that I needed to step back and remove myself from the situation.

Here I was, a mature adult... trying to make someone understand me. For what? What do I serve to gain from doing that? Nothing. I am no more important to this person than a stranger on the street. But I felt myself so badly wanting them to understand my point. The fact is, they had decided to NOT to try to understand me from the moment they started responding. I should have seen that.

I spend much of my life trying to connect in a meaningful way with others. I often talk to strangers I meet in stores or in public...just to connect. It seems that social media (emphasis on the social part) would help encourage others to do the same. Yet, I am learning that it is rife with people who seem to benefit from being more disagreeable and mean than nice.

The old saying, "silence is golden" came to mind. I think that I need to start practicing that. I think that I need to see a situation that has the potential for becoming negative, and stay away from it. I am good at doing this in my everyday life, I just need to remember to do this with social media as well.

I also need to remember that there are those, who will argue for the sake of arguing. Or people that are emotionally attached to a topic and feel compelled to defend their point without concern for the person they are attacking.

To those of you that I reach out to, know that I always do so out of love..and with a kindred spirit. I care about you.

Also, I am still learning and growing as a person. It's a lifelong journey... these little lessons serve to make me a better person.