you know amanda, i like the way you cause us all here to think over our reasons for doing things. and for some there is an obvious generation gap both in terms of age and also in terms of how long people have followed nma. i was introduced in the late 80s so do not have the longevity of others but am still as aged as most.
you also must comprehend why people react a particular way. you see folks here react sometimes to what we ask or say and we can't comprehend the response. and here we are the most inclusive group of cyber friends i have ever known to exist. and it can still get heated.
and 90 per cent of human communications is not oral. and facebook is almost exclusively oral. go figure just how much people can determine the context of what you say if they can't see, hear (tone) or sense you when you are typing. but if people take the time to listen, debate, accept, understand, and even meet occasionally like members here then that goes some way to negating the lack of the 90 per cent we miss online. you have probably heard the term mindblind. well everyone on the internet is mindblind. now imagine the whole world was mindblind? well on facebook they are. social media? once again the real power of technology has been hijacked for corporate profit instead of social inclusion and the trolls only keep the hits high. facebook preys on the emotions and insecurities of people in way that is worse than tv. and with mobile people have it with them 24/7.
what i learned about facebook when looking at the social intelligence side of it was that there is nothing social about fb. and that anyone can pretend to be anyone without fear of being found out. i am not saying that anonymity is a bad thing. but it shouldn't be used to do or say something you wouldn't otherwise. i tried some time to even my wit on facebook and other places. there is no way that can happen. you can think you are right. you can think your logic stands up. you can think more people might support your view because it makes sense. you can think again.....but i pretty much guarantee you that the people who are so nasty in these groups are also striking fear into the vast majority of good people whose natural instinct is to step away for fear of attracting the next insult to themselves. its exclusive media for those who can shit out more crap faster than anyone else.
i live in a small town. lots of people i know in real life were friends on facebook. i started to dislike people because of what they said about others i know. i thought it unfair because the people they were putting down had no power to reply. there were things being said that if said in front of me i would have to say you are bang out of order. but facebook doesn't really get the message across. they can't see your eyes or notice that others have the same opinion and they can continue to be insulting. and you can get frustrated because it is not natural to be as big a prick as the person agitating. you end up having to be a bigger prick to get anywhere. you suddenly find you are someone you don't want to be. and for what? not to be seen to back down? nah, the best thing to do is to back down permanently. get out of dodge. fast.
facebook is the perfect place for people to project what they want you to see. there is nothing genuine in that. nothing real. and certainly nothing social. and when you look at the amount of people that are using it, seeking the constantly updated content, consuming anything that is new, feverishly checking for updates to stave off the anxiety of Fear Of Missing Out, it is fairly apparent to me that people are addicted and in denial about it. and as with any abuse of something, there are those that have a higher tolerance than others, and those that have no control over their habit, there are those that get more of a kick from your reaction when they provoke it than most do out of having a fb post liked by 50 people. it is these almost psychopathic people that are the real problem due to their lack of empathy with someone's feelings in a social setting. they spot nice people a mile away, know they will have no defense, and go for the kill. a kill from behind the safety screen of their computer. sounds more like something a coward would do. probably relates to the fact that they have been mistreated in real life when younger and now have to transfer that onto others. complicated stuff i know.
but be sure it is not your fault that they are idiots. it is your fault if you keep going back to verify that they are idiots. if you know what i mean.
