A Think Piece about Think Pieces

Hypocritical, but hey.

Social media think pieces, at their core, are the equivalent to the guest columns or the opinion pages of the local newspaper. Due to social media's vast reach however, an alpaca herder in Peru and a fisherman in Japan now have access and can see and comment on the same think piece.

This globalization of opinions is more of a tool than anything else. They can be used to spread awareness or to ask questions or to garner support. And sometimes, people are just agents of chaos who like to argue or watch other people argue. Because why did anyone need to know that you don't wash your legs? It's a spectrum. On one side of the spectrum, international access to people's opinions could foster camraderie and togetherness as people discover what they have in common. On the other side of the spectrum, what those people have in common could be something like xenophobia.

One valid criticism of social media is that it gives us almost unrestricted access to everything, everywhere, all at once. And we can barely handle our own local or national problems without adding global issues to our plates. One other valid criticism of social media is that people feel emboldened to comment and make assumptions on things that they know nothing about. An original think piece could generate at least 10 think pieces in response, and those could generate at least 10 think pieces each in response, and it goes on and on. How often have you seen social media pages that are solely dedicated to adding nothing but a reaction? I haven't even gotten to the greatest plague since the bubonic one, social media comment sections.

And yet another valid criticism of social media is the pressure to respond to every thing you see. This is encouraged with likes, hearts, and an open commen section. Depending on the topic, this gives individuals who have zero expertise the legitimacy of expertise, especially if their think piece or comment gains likes. And yet one more criticism of social media is that it's all online. That someone could type out the most vile, unhinged, disturbing words and then go back offline and interact with people as if those words mean nothing. There are people out on Viola Davis' internet purposefully trolling people for funsies and then logging off and going about their day, as if their words do not matter.

But here's the thing - sometimes, your opinions on all these think pieces do matter, even if the topics in question have nothing to do with you. For example, an opinion on food choices lets you know who's house you're either crashing or avoiding for Thanksgiving. Another example, you can tell a lot about a person depending on how they react to prominent and even not so sexual assault cases, and you can really tell a lot about a person depending on who the perpetrator and the victim are. This makes one positive anecdote of social media that one can see people's reactions to things in real time and deciding how you will move around them in the future.

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) states that the power of life and death lies in the tongue, and we can go ahead and apply this to the keyboard. Many have gained affirmation, found community, garnered a sense of importance, felt defeated, lost hope, and ended their existence, all due to words spoken or read on the world wide web. You may be able to handle trolling well, but your child may not know the difference, your friend may take it too far, and your grandpa may take them seriously. Which means we must be mindful of what we say and how we say it everywhere, especially online where the lure of "anonymity" got folk out here thinking that they're invincible.

We also need to cultivate a practice of steering clear of foolishness. You know the social media pages/influencers/real life vagabonds that thrive off of sowing and promoting chaos, and yet they have some of the largest and most loyal followings. Unfollow and block immediately, do not engage, do not give the attention that keeps their pages running.

Finally, we should all utilize the best thing that ever came out of social media - the block button. And I don't mean in a troll somebody and them block them before they can respond sort of way. I mean more of a do not engage, if you see something that will raise your blood pressure, block immediately. Now I didn't say create an echo chamber, but as the saying goes, "You don't have to attend every argument that you're invited to." Especially if all you did was invite yourself. Quit arguing with strangers online or in your head and start blocking people.

In conclusion, media literacy needs to be a class. That everyone in the world takes. For free.

Be strong and take heart,

Toyin