When I made mention to one of my co-workers of my idea for a column this week, he let me know that something similar to this has been done more than once. Apparently it bears repeating.
I will admit, I love social media; I really do. I love being able to connect with my family. Some of my children no longer live at home, and most of my relatives live out of state. In fact, thanks to social media I was able to reconnect with my paternal aunt and cousins on both side of the family I had not seen since 1994. Since being reconnected on social media, I have gone to Atlanta several times to visit with them and hope to continue to do so.
If you will look on my page on Facebook you will see it is mainly Scriptures, family pictures, pet pictures and memories. You will also see an occasional funny animal video as my oldest son and I try to outdo each other with those.
But I am digressing from my point. You will see about 95 percent of all my posts being something good and/or positive. I cannot stand, I repeat, I cannot stand social media drama and neither should you.
If you have a problem with someone or an organization, own up to the situation and take it directly to them. People put their grievances online, it gets shared over and over and suddenly it is everyone’s grievance. Verbal arguments, nasty phone calls and text messages are the results of such actions. Employers do not want their workers on social media during work hours, yet we as a society have become so addicted, it is hard not to. And it is no longer just teenagers; adults are sometimes even worse.
Yes, I have been pulled into the drama before both personally and professionally, and I try my best to remain silent and not reply. I am not always successful, but I certainly try.
You have problems with the city, county and school districts: take them up with the appropriate board! All of the meetings are open and the officials would love for you to come and hear what you have to say. Not only that you won’t have to keep looking to see if anybody is commenting and what they are saying, which will allow you time to be actually be “social.” Like in talking to people face to face instead of on a screen.
People seem to think if you post your problem online that it will get shared over and over, and the organization will do something. Is this how you want the government to run, based on social media approval? I would hope not. Most of the time, only those directly connected know the facts but “we the people” get outraged over “what we think we know” instead of going directly to the source to find out the truth.
What kind of example are we setting for our children and grandchildren? In a day and age when we are all about being anti-bullying and cyber bullying the adults today are just as bad as the teenagers. Sharing all that negative stuff makes you look bad and draws others into your negativity and totally does away with real communication.
Folks, wake up, please. We are teaching our kids to be “bullies” by our actions. We are teaching our children that if you have a problem with an organization or even in a relationship the way to handle it is to put it all out there on social media for everyone to know because it is important for everyone to know “the truth.” We don’t care or respect people’s reputations. Worse yet thanks to social media we are no longer “innocent until proven guilty” we are “guilty until proven innocent.”
How can we teach our children the appropriate way to handle a situation when as adults we don’t? Is this the example we really want our children to see?
Susan Amundson is managing editor of The Columbian-Progress. She may be reached at (601) 736-2611 or via email at samundson@columbianprogress.com.
