Shame On You
Why You Should Think Twice Before Shaming Anyone On Social Media
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. Jacqui Rivait
We’ve all heard it. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what religion you ascribe to, whether it was your mother, grandmother, aunt or teacher who said it. The advice is still sound, and will continue to be so. And whether you, as an adult, would like to admit it or not, they were right.
As a thirty-something, I remember a time before social media. I remember playing Oregon Trail on a Commodore 64 in my grade school’s library. I remember playing Mahjong on a Classic Macintosh upstairs at my grandparent’s house. I remember the Mac Lab at my middle school and I most certainly remember the dawn of Windows 95 (the operating system for the first family computer purchased by my father when I was in high school). I remember when notes, not texts were passed in class. Do you like me? Check one: yes, maybe, no.
With the advent or should I say dawn of the internet and the birth of social media we’ve become increasingly disconnected from the idea that what we say (or type/post) really does have a far reaching impact, even if you don’t know the individual(s) or aren’t communicating in person. I find my eye drifting down to the comments section with each post or article, YouTube video etc. and at times I’m floored at the cruel, crushing and ignorant vitriol I read.
Sticks and stones break bones but words can and do really hurt. That being said, I don’t want to paint myself as a cynic because I’m told It Gets Better. I was bullied in high school myself which is most likely why I have little want to relive those years of my life. And to some extent I’ve made some terrible errors in judgement regarding what I’ve posted on Facebook (or once upon a time, MySpace) and emails and texts I’ve sent to others. Good intentions are easily taken out of context when read the wrong way and trust me when I say that Karma will always be cutting edge. If you’re going to make waves, you best know how to swim and always keep the Golden Rule in mind with all that you do.
In summation (really just wanted to use that word today as I’ve started power-watching The Good Wife), listen to your mother.
OF NOTE: Some of the reactions to this piece have suggested that the author, Laura Hudson thought Adria should not have spoken up, or that she thinks there is no room for calling out sexism, racism, and other bad behavior on the internet. Since this was originally a print article, where she only had 1,000 words to communicate her ideas, she has taken advantage of the significantly greater space on the internet to clarify her position, which you can read here.