If social media was structured in a way and manner in which those so posting only ever dealt with the closest of friends and family, and of which, negative and demeaning posts were frown upon or never even commented upon, then perhaps all would be well. But that isn’t social media at all, because social media as presently structured, seems to represent a format in which, far too often, the “friends” that are part of our social media, aren’t really friends, at all; and the posts so being made aren’t really there to provide a fair window into a given person’s life, but more are there as a form of narcissism or bragging, more than anything else.
The toxicity of social media is proven out by the fact that those that are especially young of age and posting, aren’t typically able to find themselves a safe place on social media in order to decompress and to just be their own real self, for a while; but rather feel far too often pressured to measure up to, or compete against others, in which in this zero-sum game there are most definitely losers as well as winners. While social media can represent a lot of different things to different people, of which, some of these things are good – it also suffers fundamentally from the cardinal sin of being damaging far too often to the fragility of a person’s ego, their self-assessment, their good humor, and their overall civility.
Life presents all sorts of challenges to young people, in which, many a child after having a rough day ends up being consoled by their family or friends in order to help right their ship, and thus be able to face another day, feeling better about themselves, and thereby putting what has so happened to them that they didn’t like, back into its appropriate perspective. The thing about social media, though, is that it can be absolutely relentless in its negativity, so that, something bad that has happened, can be successfully regurgitated in one form or another, over and over again, which thus means that the wound so inflicted, doesn’t ever have a chance to properly heal, and because of that, creates a situation in which a given person thus suffers from something chronically damaging and seemingly without end.
This thereby signifies that social media is the type of format that allows those that are bullies, along with their compatriots, to essentially attack the weak and vulnerable; and of which, those that have been attacked, if unable to mount a successful defense or to somehow walk away from such, will end up suffering through that media the public embarrassment of their shame, and some of these people so suffering, will have a tendency to turn their righteous anger that they have inside, inward, and thus hurt their own selves out of frustration and a sense of hopelessness.
This world can be a dangerous and ugly place, which is why we have laws, legislators, and governments – of which, the primary purpose of a government is to insure the domestic tranquility of the people. When it comes to social media, the proper refereeing so needed to protect people from the perniciousness of that media is virtually non-existence, and the end result, so of, is the type of tragedies that we see so happen, most every day from it.