Paul Walker & Social Media

Social Media has shaped our lives in the last few years in ways that nobody could imagine and sometimes nobody wants to, really.

There are so many good sides to social media. News breaks on Twitter before anywhere else. The world is literally at your fingertips. For me, personally, I have been able to easily keep up with friends who moved far away and with whom I have been friends with since college. I can keep up with my cousins and the extended family in Indiana all the way from Texas. I met some really good friends and a couple of super great friends through Social Media and ultimately, I met the man who taught me what love is supposed to be. I personally enjoy getting to Tweet about "The Walking Dead" or "Trueblood" or whatever TV show catches my attention with other viewers. That is always fun. Sometimes you even get a response from someone on a show. A few years ago I was having an exchange about a contestant on The Biggest Loser with another Tweep and that contestant tweeted us back. It probably had something to do with the fact we thought she was acting poorly...but it was funny because we had not included her on the message, she found it.

As with all good things there is a flip side. People are not afraid to show their worst side on social media. We all fall victim to this and sometimes we all give in to this a little. I have said some not so nice things defending a former friend. I have seen people who are good people say some not so nice things trying to defend me. I don't excuse the behavior but when you really love that person, and in both these cases, there is or was love, you do stupid things, sometimes.




(Photo courtesy of Deadline.com)

The Ugly was never so obvious as it was this weekend. From the moment Paul Walker's death became news the bad "Fast and Furious" jokes started. I am not a fan of the movies. The only thing I knew about Paul Walker before Saturday was he was the hot guy with the blue eyes. I had only seen parts of the movies and never all of them and pretty much just looked at them as eye candy kind of films. That being said, obviously there is a strong fandom out there who loves them since they are filming the 7th or whatever round of this series. What amazed me was the absolute hate that people on social media has for the people who were fans and mourning his loss. Why? Some argued he was just a pretty boy who was famous and getting all this attention when real heroes get none. Real being military, police, and firemen. I don't know about other communities but I know in Dallas-Ft.Worth when a soldier or civil servant falls it is well reported from the time of the person's untimely death to past the point of the funereal. Often there are follow ups with family down the line. The all out hate that people spew online is just a poor reflection of society in general. There are no safe guards and at times I have been so overwhelmed with the ugliness of Twitter specifically that I have had to take a break. I even suspended one account for good and one temporarily thanks to how personal and ugly Twitter became for me. When I came back I made myself a promise, I would never give anyone the power to make me sad again. I am done letting people walk all over me, even in the cyber world. When something becomes destructive it is best to just unfollow it.





In the end, there are many good people on social media, you just have to weed through the fake, crazy, self-righteous, judge mental, hateful, mean spirited, and the down right ugly people to find the gems. Is it worth it? I don't know. For me it had been. Without it I would have missing knowing too many special people. That said, sometimes a break is a good thing for everyone. Sometimes when you take a break you realize very quickly you don't want or need to go back. That's ok too. Sometimes like people, Social Media is in your life for a time and that time runs it's course. Yes, I mean you "My Space"!

Happy Monday!


Simply,
Laura
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