Reputation

internet-reputation

One other issue we have with the online community is that of powerful gossip. The assumption being, no one on Facebook is actually real so, anything I say about them won’t really cause any harm. Not to forget, I read it on Facebook so it has to be true, no smoke without fire.

Yes, we’re talking here about that sort of person whose on life is so destroyed, so fake, so uneventful that they will sacrifice anyone to appear popular and I do mean ‘anyone’ including their own friends and family.

If there is a juicy bit of gossip to share which ‘bigs them up’ then they will share it even when they know it isn’t true.

Often this isn’t malicious, they mean no harm, they just feel that because this person isn’t that persons friend on Facebook that they’ll never know so it doesn’t matter. Many have totally forgotten there is a real world out there where people might actually talk to each other and  ,,,

You see, it doesn’t matter how good we are, how hard we try to be the right sort of person, it only takes one thoughtless person to start or perpetuate a rumour and we’ve totally lost our reputation. If one bad person makes something up about us and then posts it online that news will spread out so quickly we can’t hope to stop it. In the meantime, the first person to say it apologises and has deleted all evidence but, the damage is done.

Sadly, there is no way to stop this. Those hell bent on destroying others to give their own life meaning or some other personal gain just do not care. All that matters is them and how popular they can make themselves.

If you hear someone tell you they got something from a reliable source that someone else you know did this that or the other, please, tell them to go do one!

This isn’t overly specific by the way, just one of my all too often happening experiences.

Social Destruction

Has Facebook destroyed the current generations ability to form lasting social contacts?

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It is often heralded as the social networking tool of this age but, is it really?

I see profiles with over 1000 ‘friends’ and, for all practical purposes, it’s nigh on impossible to follow even a fraction of those and their postings if any. The timeline must be moving so fast anything which could actually benefit the reader has long gone unless they sit staring at the screen hour after hour.

Indeed, perhaps not even just Facebook, let’s move to

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To show but a few and good old ‘texting’.

There are now very real arguments caused by users poor ability to adequately communicate the emotions of their text leading to terrible misunderstandings.

In an age where so many of us have so many free minutes on our mobile phones where we could actually talk to someone, we still choose to text. Indeed, why have a 30 second phone call when 20+ texts over 10 minutes will screw the whole process up?

It makes no sense!

This is because a generation has lost the ability to communicate. So concerned are they that they might humiliate themselves during a call they text as though, somehow, this isn’t them, it’s a degree of pseudo anonymity. No one can see them so, it sort of isn’t really them and it’s plain crazy.

Indeed, so used are people now to communicating via Facebook and others that they fail to do it in person, they genuinely don’t have time because they are answering all those messages online. When they are physically with someone else, that message tone sounds and straight off, out comes the phone to answer someone about not very much who may well be with another real person but, they are not actually communicating effectively because of all the uninvited guests sitting their virtually via text message.

I’ve been in rooms where everyone is communicating online, even with each other. They have to as it’s the only way to actually have everyone involved talking even though they are all talking about different things.

Does no one ever get the urge to go out and just leave the phone off? Not on silent or vibrate but, actually off? How many times have we sat there across a table talking to someone and realised they’re barely paying any attention because they are engrossed in their phone.

Some people spend so much time looking for the right person via text that they miss them sitting their at the same table!

Perhaps we should have phone bans in public places? Give everyone the chance to learn or remember what it is like to be with real life people and communicate with them without someone virtually getting involved that wasn’t invited?