Have your feelings towards social media changed in the last year or so?
I used to quite enjoy facebook, various forums etc I liked the chat, the camaraderie, keeping up to date with the news and current affairs. I don't know if social media has changed or I have but I'm finding it less and less enjoyable and it's users ever more agravating.
To give some examples, since lockdown a lady who I considered a close friend, we've been friends for 20 years has disappeared down a conspiracy rabbit hole, She has started posting nonsense about governemnt control, we're all guinea pigs in some giant experiment etc I tried to ignore it or post articles for her to read, the latest one being about the vaccinations as she believed they'd been rushed but she ignores them which is her right. She wouldn't have posted such nonsense a year ago, she was level headed and we were pretty much on the same page with most stuff but these days I hardly recognise the woman she has become.
Hypocrisy is another thing that I'm finding hard to ignore lately. After the sad death of Caroline Flack, the whole BE KIND thing was all over facebook. It was quickly forgotten as people came out in droves defending Piers Morgans continual harrassment and quite frankly worrying online stalking of Meghan Markle. It wasn't OK to trash Caroline online, why is it OK to trash Meghan? A lot seem to miss the point, it matters not whether you like her. What does matter is allowing online bullying and trolling, defending it and accepting it as normal. I can't get onboard with it. It's anything but kind.
We all remember the whole clapping for the NHS every week, how quickly our appreciation for them waned when their paltry pay rise became news. My local rag was littered wth comments like "well I've worked throughout the pandemic and I'm not getting a rise why should they" etc The very same people were clattering their pans every week and hinking their car horns
I've had three facebook warnings lately for speaking up against the covid deniers. I lost my sister in law to covid last June and my mum to it in November. I wonder if it's my personal circumstances that have just made me too sensitive for social media. Maybe it's always been like it and i've just not noticed it like I am doing now.
TL
R I just can't 'people' any more!