There is a bitter sort of irony to be found in the fact that social media, which is ostensibly meant to make human connection and understanding easier, can actually have the opposite effect, making one feel more alienated than ever. Silence is not a huge surprise when one cannot be readily or extensively heard, yet becomes particularly deafening when one knows that his words have not fallen into empty space but into a space teeming with ears. Moreover, the absence of response, especially to things that tend to be more heartfelt or personal than would be likely to come up in casual conversation, can seem the same as rejection. Worse yet, there are those even in high places, people of "great and unmatchable wisdom", who use various social media platforms specifically in order to denigrate and insult others. Although this, admittedly, is an extreme example. In any case, it is clear that if we did not desire a response, we would not bother to speak (or post). And it is equally clear that the sound of crickets is not what we were looking for.
2 comments:
It’s an odd social position to be in. I know more about you than you know about me. I am a stranger to you. Would you appreciate a stranger weighing in? I suppose no one is a stranger to a blogger. To think, only a century ago I couldn’t speak with you if we hadn’t been formally introduced.
the queen--Yes, it has truly been a sea change in our culture, and, really, has happened, just in the past 30 years. I feel amazed now to look back on using a typewriter, using an envelope and a stamp to send letters, interacting pretty much only in one's immediate sphere--neighborhood, workplace, etc. As with all such sea changes, one cannot be totally surprised at the avenues of human behavior it has led to, both positive and negative. Even in blogging, I am overjoyed when people 'weigh in', even though when writing my blog entries, I do not have any audience in mind. I simply write about what interests me at the moment. It barely occurs to me that people are reading these things. If I were very aware of it, the awareness might well have a crippling effect. :)
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