Withdrawn from physical interaction
There are all sorts of reasons why a person may isolate themselves and withdrawal from physical interactions with other individuals. These reasons can range from mental health to fears. The truth though is that the human needs social interaction regardless of how an individual may feel and social media has provided that to these individuals. Here lies the beginning of the issue. Interaction through social media does not provide emotional expression. If a person is isolated and has feelings of hopelessness and despair, these feelings cannot be relayed over technology unless they are bluntly put. This being the case, when an isolated person posts or shares things over social media and a person responds in any manner that is perceived negative by the individual then the situation the person is in can become worse.
The dangers of differences on social media
Of course, as individuals we will all have our own beliefs and activities that we believe in and enjoy and with those we meet people with similar beliefs and enjoyments and eventually form friendships and distinguishable groups because of these. Unfortunately, in social media some of these groups can be highlighted and targeted by other groups in social media to cause tension or anger in people without regard of how other people may be impacted by it. A group that can an example of this targeting is the militia. Though some militia groups have made questionable or wrong actions, these actions should not be the face of the militia as a whole. Because of these actions though social media has been targeted by other groups as government hating anarchists. This is the danger of polarization on social media. If my group of people call the militia government hating anarchists, then I will tend to believe my group of people and then in turn share that with other people that have their groups of people. When, in fact, the militia is not a group of government hating individuals but I did not do the research to discover that.
Lessening the symptoms
Isolation and polarization are two areas in social media that will always be there. A “cure” for these type of situations does not exist. There are though ways to lessen the symptoms. First, DO YOUR RESEARCH. You can not assume to know something just because you heard it from someone that you “roll” with. There are always two sides to a story. It could be safe to assume that if you hear one side of the story but not the other you are definitely missing something or something has been left out so that you see the viewpoint someone else wants you to see. Second, as a rule, be aware of peoples feelings. A situation that is simple for me or you may not be as simple for another person. A resolution that worked for us may not be the same way to resolve another persons situation. We learned last week that emotional posts are what currently drives social media attention. How we say what we say could make all the difference to another person.
Andrew's Blog 