Social Media A Sad State These Days

Remember back in the day--when MySpace was all the rage? And you could install custom wallpaper on your page that reflected your favorite band or artist, or sports team or cartoon character--whatever you wanted really? And you had your list of "connections" and you could click on other's connections to see THEIR pictures and connect with them as well. Of course you could also add music and really make your page a personal reflection of your taste and personality. I actually just looked to see if my page was still there--and it IS--it just doesn't have any of those old bells and whistles anymore and is very plain... But I was surprised it was there!

Then we had the explosion of Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, you name it--we are all connected! I've never seen Snapchat or Tik Tok (although my daughter tells me they're cool) but I do spend the majority of my time on Facebook, with Instagram coming in a close second. I'm also told that that is an "age thing"--that Facebook is now where the parents are lol.

Get our free mobile app

All of it has been so great--as it has been so much fun to reconnect and stay in touch with not only old old friends from the street I grew up on in Chicago in the 70's and 80's... But also with former students of mine from my teaching days, as well as  coworkers and colleagues in the Broadcast Industry I've encountered along this crazy almost 32 year journey. It's wonderful to be able to see what everyone's doing and hear about their lives as you scroll thru the news feed. What HASN'T been pleasant is the increasing number of people out there who do nothing all day but seek to start trouble or attack people for posting a comment or an opinion that's different from theirs.

It's been very disheartening to not only lose a few friendships myself but to watch others go thru it too based on these silly arguments that are on a web page. I still feel like the balance of great vs evil is way in favor of the former, not the latter. And as long as that feeling continues, I'll stick around and just scroll past the stupidity. So much anger nowadays-especially over the #1 igniter--POLITICS. I think we need to go back to the way it was when our parents were the adults and we were still kids--and who you're voting for, what your religious or political beliefs are--all of it--should be kept as a personal and private thing not to be shoved onto others. If we went back to that system and way of life and kept social media as a place to converse and connect and enjoy each other's company, as opposed to inciting a keyboard war over opinions best kept to yourself--I think that would be the start of a much happier world in 2021.