I am always surprised by people that toss rocks into the water and expect there to be no ripple. Social media is a crazy phenomena in your current world. Social media here you can post your thoughts, pictures and tweet (limited to 140 characters) for the world to see in an instant. Where apparently you can say things you would never say to someones face. With this phenomena is the ability for people to rant and complain about anything. There is good in social media but the ones that toss boulders into the water not expecting to get wet amaze and entertain me.
My personal favorite although I don't think it is considered social media but is up for debate is the blog. My blog is where I can rant or rave for more than 140 characters. I blog when the 140 characters can no sum up the thoughts, feelings or epiphanies that the day has had for me.
I love social media. I hate social media. The information that we can get at our finger tips is quick and easy and with social media I can somewhat control what I see. For the things I can't control like PTA and teacher/parent pages on social media I am in constant surprise at what people are willing to put out for the world to see. Even the comments on political pages surprise me. I am sometimes surprised by my network of friends when their friends comment on a post.
I try to be neutral on the political and religious views on social media. I personally don't think that it is the time or place for in your face politics or religious views. I have no problem saying I went to church today or in Sunday school a child said this to me. I have no problem supporting my favorite non-profit that happens to be faith based or suggesting you should watch the Ben Carson movie. These words should tell you something about me. You clearly know at this point I am Republican and that I am for the lack of a better word, religious.
What I hate about social media is a long list. People that constantly complain on group sites, post controversial things and then get mad, the lack debate etiquette and people that comment on things that are not pertinent to them. For example, homeschool parents that bash the local school system or comment "do you even have kids in school." I seriously saw a homeschool mom ask this question of someone that posted a comment on a group page. She doesn't have a child in the school so why is she starting a fight?
Recently on the parent/teacher Facebook page a parent post a video of teachers with statistics on why they are leaving the classroom at an alarming rate. I am a former classroom teacher and I understand why they are leaving. I have been in those shoes and they are hard shoes to fill. There was a parent that commented, "but they have summers off.....". My heart raced. It was everything in my not to engage the enemy that day. To him I might say, "you might be why teachers are leaving the profession of teaching". He has commented other things that make me do a face palm. He clearly has no respect for teachers. I don't know if I have ever met him but I am pretty sure if I do, I won't like him.
Another pet peeve is the lack of debate etiquette. When I do engage the enemy, against my rules of social media which is not to engage in debate. I find that people do not know how to debate and attack you personally for facts. A debate is not to tear someone down by saying statements like, "you obviously......" This is not debate. Debate is facts and you counter with facts. Not telling someone you don't know, "obviously you never have________" or "I can tell you are _______". If you don't like the facts you should counter with different facts. I am not a off the cuff person, I do research on what I believe and usually will post an article. On the flip of that is I probably can find anything on the internet to back my beliefs but I don't attack people personally.
I once commented on a friend controversial post. Mistake number one. I actually agreed with the post and didn't think that one of his friends wouldn't agree. Well, long story short I was attacked personally for my comment based on facts. This person accused me of not understanding poverty and that I was well taken care of and pretty much didn't have a clue. Yes, I am well taken care now but my life has not always been that of abundance.
He didn't know me from any other person he would pass on the street and attacked me for facts. I didn't continue the debate even when he apologized and continued to try and goat me to conversation. The interesting thing is that I worked in a title one school for five years and I am on an advisory board for a nonprofit organization that the whole goal is to get people out of poverty buy giving them a hand up. He didn't know these facts about me, he just didn't like the enlightenment I was bringing to the table for him to chew on at the time so attacked me personally.
Sometimes we create ripples in innocence but others I think swim against the flow just because they can. I have seen time and time again people posting complaints that in my option are an obvious result of them being obstinate. Ripples of the rock they tossed in the water.
My personal favorite although I don't think it is considered social media but is up for debate is the blog. My blog is where I can rant or rave for more than 140 characters. I blog when the 140 characters can no sum up the thoughts, feelings or epiphanies that the day has had for me.
I love social media. I hate social media. The information that we can get at our finger tips is quick and easy and with social media I can somewhat control what I see. For the things I can't control like PTA and teacher/parent pages on social media I am in constant surprise at what people are willing to put out for the world to see. Even the comments on political pages surprise me. I am sometimes surprised by my network of friends when their friends comment on a post.
I try to be neutral on the political and religious views on social media. I personally don't think that it is the time or place for in your face politics or religious views. I have no problem saying I went to church today or in Sunday school a child said this to me. I have no problem supporting my favorite non-profit that happens to be faith based or suggesting you should watch the Ben Carson movie. These words should tell you something about me. You clearly know at this point I am Republican and that I am for the lack of a better word, religious.
What I hate about social media is a long list. People that constantly complain on group sites, post controversial things and then get mad, the lack debate etiquette and people that comment on things that are not pertinent to them. For example, homeschool parents that bash the local school system or comment "do you even have kids in school." I seriously saw a homeschool mom ask this question of someone that posted a comment on a group page. She doesn't have a child in the school so why is she starting a fight?
Recently on the parent/teacher Facebook page a parent post a video of teachers with statistics on why they are leaving the classroom at an alarming rate. I am a former classroom teacher and I understand why they are leaving. I have been in those shoes and they are hard shoes to fill. There was a parent that commented, "but they have summers off.....". My heart raced. It was everything in my not to engage the enemy that day. To him I might say, "you might be why teachers are leaving the profession of teaching". He has commented other things that make me do a face palm. He clearly has no respect for teachers. I don't know if I have ever met him but I am pretty sure if I do, I won't like him.
Another pet peeve is the lack of debate etiquette. When I do engage the enemy, against my rules of social media which is not to engage in debate. I find that people do not know how to debate and attack you personally for facts. A debate is not to tear someone down by saying statements like, "you obviously......" This is not debate. Debate is facts and you counter with facts. Not telling someone you don't know, "obviously you never have________" or "I can tell you are _______". If you don't like the facts you should counter with different facts. I am not a off the cuff person, I do research on what I believe and usually will post an article. On the flip of that is I probably can find anything on the internet to back my beliefs but I don't attack people personally.
I once commented on a friend controversial post. Mistake number one. I actually agreed with the post and didn't think that one of his friends wouldn't agree. Well, long story short I was attacked personally for my comment based on facts. This person accused me of not understanding poverty and that I was well taken care of and pretty much didn't have a clue. Yes, I am well taken care now but my life has not always been that of abundance.
He didn't know me from any other person he would pass on the street and attacked me for facts. I didn't continue the debate even when he apologized and continued to try and goat me to conversation. The interesting thing is that I worked in a title one school for five years and I am on an advisory board for a nonprofit organization that the whole goal is to get people out of poverty buy giving them a hand up. He didn't know these facts about me, he just didn't like the enlightenment I was bringing to the table for him to chew on at the time so attacked me personally.
Sometimes we create ripples in innocence but others I think swim against the flow just because they can. I have seen time and time again people posting complaints that in my option are an obvious result of them being obstinate. Ripples of the rock they tossed in the water.
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