WITH SOCIAL MEDIA COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

or How To Use Your Platform And Not Be A Knob

Uncle Ben said it best.
Not the rice Uncle Ben. Though I can pretty easily imagine him slinging a few tasty and wise one liners too.

I’m referring to the Spider-Man Uncle Ben when he said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Social Media has provided pretty much everyone on the planet with a megaphone.

That does create a din but unlike an IRL (In Real Life) cacophony, it’s a din that disappears when you scroll and read the next post and allows you to focus on one idiot’s megaphone at a time.

Social Media posts are largely all equal. You can post a reply to a government official’s Tweet and people will read it with the same eyes/ears and brain that they read the government one with.

This is power.

Of course, Social Media posts by people with more followers get seen by… well, more followers.

This is a lot of power.

If someone with a lot of followers suggests that puppies are stupid and deserved to be punched, you can almost guarantee that puppies will be punched.

Even if they’re kidding.

The person who posts that kind of awful message isn’t directly telling anyone to punch a puppy… but they’re kind of implying that it would be okay.

That’s dangerous.
And it’s not okay.
Puppies are amazing and provide much joy for many.

When I started amassing a decent number of followers on Social Media, I was suddenly very aware that what I said in my posts could have potential impact on those who saw them.

Hot take suggestions would seem like permission.

I carefully try to avoid creating posts that are potentially harmful to others.
I’ve tried (I think mostly successfully) to deal with issues I feel are important and/or infuriating to me without suggesting more harm/violence would be the answer.
I’ve tried to make it clear that harm/violence is never okay.

Because even if I’m joking or half-hearted or “of course I don’t really mean that”, someone may take it as permission to do something not good.

Of course, I’m not suggesting I’m perfect in any capacity or task.
I’m as stupid as the next stupid guy.

If, as is said, the Internet doesn’t understand nuance, Social Media thinks it does but can’t spell it correctly.

We should start realizing that Social Media should be used responsibly.
It’s a massively powerful thing that can be used for good or bad.

Let’s train kids how to use it better.
Let’s train adults how to use it better.
Let’s demand that platforms wake up and realize that “free speech” is not a panacea.

We humans need guidance so we can guide others.
We need to model good behaviour.

With Social Media comes great responsibility.

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(Pictured: Author is reminded that his Social Media posts have real world beer garden implications)