GROWING up with Star Wars and Back to the Future series transported us to a make-believe future. Never in our wildest dreams have we thought that the silver screen eventually be our reality.
One of the products of advanced technology is the Internet. And one of the by-products of the internet is the social media.
It started with Friendster, Multiply, Yahoo chat rooms, etc. We all had fun there, and I had fun learning about ASL and the like. It took me a while to know what it meant.
Since Facebook emerged, social media has never been the same. The introvert becomes an extrovert. Before we knew it, it ate up half of our waking time. It has taken control of our lives.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against social media. I have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Threads. I also have a blog site and LinkedIn.
Social media has its pros and cons, depending on how you use it. Take my Mama, for instance. She learned the ropes during the pandemic, the silver lining of that hiatus from the outside world.
Mama accesses Facebook to be updated on the latest news, from Cardo to BTS down to King Charles, from Lagonglong to worldwide. She’s one person who is well-informed on weather, political tidbits, local and international showbusiness, and local and international daily news.
However, when social media controls you, then that’s something else. When you become obsessively particular about the number of likes for a personal post, that’s odd. Unless it’s a business post, it’s normal to be critical of the number of likes, shares, and comments.
From what we’ve seen, social media has become a venue for gossip, a source of both legitimate and fake news. If you want to read news, take it from a legitimate news source, legitimate journalists, and experts on the topic.
Don’t form an opinion or make judgments from sources that are rants or gossip passed on from one source to the other. Message relays taught us that there will always be addition and subtraction as it moves from one person to another.
One should remember that no matter how the world has changed, there are always constants, and that is ethics and etiquette. Social media is not an exemption.
Make social media work for you and not the other way around. Some things are best not shared.
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