This season has only seen more and more polarization online.
I don’t know about you, but every time I log into Twitter, I start feeling the strain & drain by the time I’ve scrolled through about 20 tweets. There are a handful of reasons for this that I’m aware of, and certainly more that are less obvious:
- Almost everyone is (hard) selling something: Their ideals, worldview, beliefs.
- Right now, especially, everyone is angry about something (some rightfully so).
- Encouragement seems to be at an all-time low.
- There’s not a lot to contribute to a conversation online that will really move the needle on any important issues. (How often has your mind been changed by a Twitter discussion?)
- On the flip-side, it can be challenging to contribute positively offline (in the real world) due to ongoing Coronavirus concerns.
And at its foundation, social media tends to be draining by default, which certainly doesn’t help matters any.
The struggle is this: Without social media, the only voices you hear from are 1) people in your direct vicinity (very few, due to social distancing), and 2) the mainstream media (who are all politically charged in one way or another). If you choose to set Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. aside for some period, the diversity of voices you’d usually prefer to hear from are nearly altogether absent.
But… maybe that’s precisely what I need… at least, for a time. Hey, it could be what you need, too. After all, for laypeople (like myself), being present and active in our various localized communities is likely 100x more impactful than anything we could say or do online.
Makes this post feel a bit silly. :shrug:
What are you doing to battle the weight of the world we’re all experience because of our hyper-connectedness in this present age? How are you taking care of yourself, and how are you balancing that with the energy required to show empathy and compassion towards others?
– Zach
