But could this be the beginning of an anti-social media revolution or, as seems more likely, a realignment of how we use these channels? It feels that something radical needs to happen, because something radical has happened! The bad stuff of the last few days has an irresistible link to how we’ve mindlessly adopted our most popular platforms. Yet we ignore the direct correlation between use and responsibility.
It was reported yesterday that the Facebook bragging Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was speaking on the phone at the time of his horrendous train crash – a crash that took 78 lives - outside of Santiago de Compostela. What was his proud FB boast? That he loved driving his train beyond it’s safe limits, but that he knew, at some point, he would be found out. Well, he didn’t help his cause by photographing the speedometer and posting it!
And what of Twitter? This week in the UK, the social media site has been under real pressure. But for what? Well, to make it easier for Internet users to report abuse after more than 30,000 people petitioned it over the case of a feminist campaigner who says she was repeatedly threatened with rape. So why would Twitter be unavailable to comment or make a statement? The irony is rich! And it’s taken over a week to get any sort of comment or contrition, during which time the threat level has risen from rape to bombs!
Bullying on social media networks is at almost “epidemic” levels says a leading charity - as police reveal complaints about sites such as Facebook and Twitter have dramatically increased in the last 12 months. But is it out of control? Most rational people will have an opinion about that.
And Wikileaks continues to confound. Julian Assange is safely holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in Kensington, while an unwitting, and possibly dim-witted, US soldier feels the heat on behalf of the embattled gossipmonger. And now he’ll have plenty of time to consider the wisdom of publishing 100,000 military secrets. A lifetime in fact.
But the evidence for the prosecution is everywhere and permeates all walks of life. From the constant stream of the ‘head downers’ on our streets to those who miss out on real life experiences because they are too busy capturing the event for the world to share – “look how much I enjoyed the holiday I never had!” A cynical spin, maybe, but a topic worthy of considered debate.
Only this week, a Telegraph journalist Brendan O’Neill http://bit.ly/1ckS4Q9 also with his own online magazine, commented, “Today, switching on the Internet is like opening a sluice-gate of senselessness. It’s become a nauseating volcano of personal, invariably petty opinion, an arena one must navigate with trepidation lest one end up showered with every man and his dog’s opinions about stuff.” And this from a man whose primary vocation is commenting on social media.
He underpinned his view with the following, “as far back as 1979 the American social critic Christopher Lasch warned of the emergence of an empire of narcissism, in which we “cannot live without an admiring audience” and have all become obsessed with “confession and self-absorption”.
I refer you back to my opinion about the inevitable link between use and responsibility. The big problem is, what’s happened to our underlying sense of responsibility?
Here’s where we move into the impact on the gene pool, because this is now a massive cross-cultural issue. To quote the Prince movie ‘Under a Cherry Moon’ ‘Follow a stupid kid home and see if somebody stupid don't answer the door.’
Self-censorship is a huge responsibility that must lie at our own doors.
Simon Dover
All images found on Google. No offense or copyright infringement intended. Images can be removed if requested by originator.
No comments :
Post a Comment