Another Social Media Friendship Termination

Social media is the bane of society.  Why everybody feels the need to broadcast their personal and political beliefs is beyond me.  "A social media post totally changed my perspective on a hot button issue," said nobody - ever.

As I'm typing this another long-term friendship is totally destroyed because of social media.  The sad thing is that both of these women are good friends of mine and I love them both dearly.  Granted, they are on opposite sides politically, but I thought true friendship could endure political differences and debates.

Silly, naive me. 

My mind goes back to not-so-long ago when we all would be at each others' homes having a BBQ in the back yard on a beautiful Saturday night.  Laughter was abundant.  Wine was flowing.  We all shared parts of our lives that even the biggest social media whore would never disclose as we all sat in a circle around the fire pit as night fell.  ahhhhhhhhhh friendship.....how wonderful it is. 

.....and then social media came along......

What social media started out as "look at me, aren't you jealous" evolved into a poison political forum where truths are fabricated and vice versa.  Now, another friendship is destroyed because both women thought their positions on abortion were correct.  This is (or should I state was) a friendship that is 40 years old and goes back to childhood.  Arguing about the unborn is as fruitless as arguing about which came first - the chicken or the egg (no pun intended).

I'm genuinely sad about the nastiness both of my friends displayed at each other.  In my heart I truly believe that it would not have sunk to the level it did if they had their conversation face-to-face.  It's so easy to hurl insults and opinions from behind a screen.  I'm guilty of it myself and it's not a flattering trait.

Both friends are not budging in their positions.  That is their right, I suppose.  I'm caught in the middle.  I think both are wanting me to weigh in with my opinion.  Truth is, I don't know what the truth is.  I have held beliefs that I would have sworn to God to be truths shattered in an instant.  I have had others' opinions that I initially blown off to be bogus turn out to be (what I believe) to be truths. 

As the song Knights in White Satin indicates, "Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore......"

Another song lyric comes to mind from the late George Harrison, "The more I learn the less I know."
 
I challenge everybody to spend time wrestling viewpoints from the opposite spectrum.  There is a grain of truth in all of it.  Maybe it is just a grain, but it's there.  Don't limit yourself by surrounding yourself with people and media that only reinforces your own prejudiced viewpoint.  In my lifetime I've observed that whatever you're vehemently against has a way of showing up in your life to deal with.  For example, (dramatic license invoked) I know of a woman who is against abortion and thinks that women who have them should be stoned to death.....until.....she discovers her own daughter had one.

Sooooooo 2009

Social media has hit the wall with the public.  Finally.  Facebook and other social media sites are sooooooooo 2009 and soooooooo last decade when the novelty was just taking off and everybody overshared everything.   Government agencies, internet companies, and businesses have gleefully collected your personal information which was freely volunteered by your insatiable ego's quest for "likes."

Since 2009 many relationships and marriages have suffered trauma incurred by somebody's thoughtless post.  Yup.  Busted.  Now Facebook is nothing more than what email is now.  At first a useful tool to communicate and is now just a noisy nuisance full of urban folklore, snake oil salesmen, fake and sensationalized news, and bragging/preaching posts by individuals.  People are finally figuring it out and being more selective about what they share.  People are deleting their social media accounts.  Businesses and the government have also figured this out and it's no longer the low-hanging fruit of information collecting.   However, there is a danger more insidious.  It's your computer web cam, smart phone web cam, and that thing people are wearing on their wrist.

Just know that there is technology available that records you when you think the camera is not on.  All of these gadgets coming on the market with Siri sitting on the kitchen counter are capturing more than "what is the weather in Denver" while you're chopping onions.  That thing you wear on your wrist is collecting more than how many steps you do in a day and your heart rate.  Also know that the chances are that your computer, smartphone, and thing that you wear on your wrist were manufactured in China.  The public is lined up and paying big bucks for this stuff.  Are you putting all of this together yet?????

Selfie: Narcissists

Our culture has even become more narcissistic with technology (if that's even possible).  It's as if everybody now feels the need to document their daily events over social media -- complete with the dreaded "selfie" where the only purpose is to convey, "Look at MEEEEEEEEE!"

 Is that how now we value our worth as a human?  Do we measure ourselves by how many posts, tweets, twits, instagrams, whatever we generate? 

Why do we feel the need to disclose painfully private information and should-be-private-intimate-moments between family and friends?  Why do we feel the need to announce the obvious to the free world like, "I love my boyfriend!!!  My life is now complete."

Are we so self-absorbed we feel the need for an audience for every little thing or we will be forgotten?  Are our egos that pathetic?  I had no idea narcissism could be taken to another level, but we managed it.