I have a secret weapon. I've discovered that sweet spot where using Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools brings my world of interests to my virtual doorstep. I find this incredibly useful in both my work and personal lives. As a result, you will often hear me giddily proclaim the wonders of most tools social.
However, as with so many wonderful things in life, this world has a dark side. In social media, social does NOT necessarily mean civil. I have watched, horrified as people I know and/or respect wrote seemingly hateful things that literally made my jaw drop. Worse, the writers have often attempted to disguise their harsh words within a snarky veil of ill-placed humor.
Part of the problem may be due to how some people seem to view social media. I've seen smart people and semi-celebrities partake in snark battles with followers. When questioned about it, they have proclaimed that they were joking...and after all, it was only Twitter.
News flash. Twitter is a service where real people connect and interact. We are not responding to bots. We are responding to real, live people with feelings, hopes, dreams. We should treat them as such, with civility at a minimum.
Recent events have personally driven home the realization that snark can become powerfully hurtful. Even when I'm certain that no malice was intended. Similar to how beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I've discovered that hurt is in the eye of the one in pain.
I'm sure you are all aware of the recent scandal that escalated to rock the Penn State community. As an employee and alumna of Penn State, the media firestorm and public outcry and backlash toward our entire community has been incredibly difficult to watch and process. During the worst of it, many people were extremely harsh and even threatening to any of us who were ever associated with Penn State in any way. It was both a scary and depressing time.
One bright spot in the darkest of hours came from a number of colleagues who reached out to us in many ways, including social media. Your support was very much appreciated and needed more than (hopefully) you will ever know. I wouldn't wish those kinds of experiences on my worst enemies.
A troubling phenomenon also occurred during this painful time. A few people who I thought were or would be sympathetic to what we were experiencing wrote or tweeted things that cut deeply. Mostly making snarky comments or attempting to be funny about a situation that was anything but. For example, a higher ed colleague tweeted out his amusement at a montage of hateful jokes done by the show South Park that painted our community in a sickening light. I'm sad to admit that it hurt, and hurt quite a bit. I expected such hateful treatment from the South Park show, but not the promotion of it from someone who I would have liked to consider an ally.
I learned a lesson through this entire situation that words can be powerful, both for the good and not so good. And please, if you are out there with the notion that your words on Twitter somehow don't count...DELETE that notion for the sake of all of us real, living, breathing, feeling people who use it to connect with others.
I will grant you that I can snark as well as the next person. However, the next time I'm tempted to poke fun, hopefully I will pause before hitting "send" and evaluate whether the snarky repartee really adds to the conversation or whether I am just trying to be witty. If it is the latter, I intend to at the very least consider whether my words (or tweets) will cause pain to those who might already be going through a difficult time.
Perhaps I've taken the long way around when attempting to get to the point. The bottom line is, words are powerful so please use your power for the good.
P.
