The Social Media Experience

I often find it interesting that complete strangers comment in response to my comments on a friend's page with the determination to invalidate my experiences and opinions with their experiences and opinions. As if somehow their experience trumps mine and I need to be schooled. We each have our own experiences that create our worldview and it would behoove people to be more sensitive to the fact that we all experience things differently and that sharing our experiences doesn't mean that it opens up a forum for debate or conversion to another's personal perspective. 

I am not speaking here of trolls, because they are easily identifiable with their incorrect grammar, syntax, and spelling. They are usually uneducated and overly full of random opinions that have very little academic or scholarly basis. Hence, they elicit giggles and eye rolls. I am talking about those people who take EVERYTHING anyone says personally or as a personal invitation to espouse their knowledge in a direct attack on someone else because their experience is different than theirs.

Sounds close to trolling, but inside it I see a psychological need for validation. That in of itself is what social media is all about. Validation. I have hundreds of endorsements on LinkedIn, a couple thousand friends of Facebook, and 500 plus followers on Twitter. What I don't have is a dozen blog followers or readers. The title of this blog is apropos to this conundrum, I am afflicted with perpetual contemplation. Thus, writing and psychology are the most important things in my life. Both require deep thought and information processing.

It has gotten to the point where social media has become a tiresome tirade of uneducated and insensitive people who get offended mostly because they don't take the time to read but skim and the immediately find something to combat. So blogging seems to be about the only form of social media where you can fully espouse an opinion and you can control the amount of vitriol that you receive in response.

The rampant insecurity that people feel that sits like an overcoat on top of the need that people have to connect in their experiences only serves to push others away further.