I use social media, so obviously I’m not against it. I’m not completely into it, but I’m not a novice either. If your feeds are like mine, you see posts in categories such as these: emotions, sharing pictures, sharing information, or completely random things. I’ve been challenged recently on what to look out for on social media. Here are three reasons you shouldn’t trust everything you see:
1. Posts aren’t necessarily true.
The bottom line is that social media can be a great place to just stir up a bunch of garbage that isn’t true. If you see a tear-jerking story or a juicy bit of gossip, remember that just because you saw it on Facebook or Twitter doesn’t mean it’s true. Check your facts before clicking “share” or “retweet”.
2. Know that posts only show portions of people’s lives.
If you ever get jealous of people posting about their “perfect life”, if you ever get annoyed by certain things people do on Facebook, or if you don’t like people’s pictures of their kids (for the 20th time that week), then know this: they are selecting what they show you.
They aren’t telling you about the parts they don’t want you to hear, just the ones they select. They aren’t showing you the 20 photos they deleted on their camera to get the one that looked good.
And, for those people in your feed who are chronically negative, know that they are happy some of the time (we hope!).
3. It will never do what person to person communication will do. As a rule, don’t try to make it do that!
Person to person communication will always resolve disputes, say I love you, and explain itself better than social media will. Miscommunication is very possible when only written words are considered. You can’t get tone of voice, body language, or sometimes even the context of a 140 character post – so don’t make the mistake of getting too worked up about posts.
Think. Are there ways that you trust social media too much?
Act. Make any necessary adjustments to how you use and respond to what you see in the VIRTUAL (that is, NOT real) world.