It’s easy in this day and age to call out something as either good or bad and to have not only a platform for those calls but also a group of folks that will willing follow you if your voice is loud enough.
Then the calls come for the platform, the mechanism we have to voice those opinions, to censor, to step in and stop the spread of what one groups says, pull down the imagery we see, and to protect us from the hate and violence.
I’m not saying that the platforms we use shouldn’t be involved with the conversation but their tech is not the cause of those items we are offended by, nor are they the cause for some of those wonderful videos we see of someone turning a good deed or provides us with music and imagery to inspire.
The issue at hand isn’t the technology used, or the companies that run them, the issue is with ourselves.
We allow ourselves to listen to the echo chambers, to let our emotions run unchecked, and to then feel empowered to act on them without the fear of repercussions. We all feel that our opinions and the ones that are right and that no other opinion should be considered.
I implore you, when you see something upsets you, that causes your blood to boil, take a moment and think about removing the source from your feed. I’ve done it several times over the years, a scrub of sources in my feed to remove those are just too out there, not those that just disagree with me, those that are writing and posting things just to cause a reaction.
Disagree fine, inform fine, just post to push reactions with no value – I’ll take a pass.
So, when you next see something that’s bothering you, that you might be offended by, don’t just blame the platform, you have the power to decide what to let into your feed and life.