Blog Post #2 - How far can mean posts go?

TWITTER, FACEBOOK, TUMBLR, MYSPACE

As far as social media goes, its basically a do whatever you want sort of place. Many people often use it to give an update to their followers or friends what they're doing, or even just post how they feel at the moment. But like most things, there is an ugly side to it. People saying mean things about each other, swearing, and even going as far as to threaten other people online. Seeing as you are free to express your opinion on the internet, should it be banned to do such things? Should it concern anyone that these sort of things are happening? In my opinion, no. I don't think so.

Personally I don't see it as a concern unless you find yourself doing things such as threatening people online, with comments like: I'll kill you! like just... no. Not only is it cyber-bullying to say that to someone, its breaking the law. As well as posting mean things about one another, that's just rude. If you wont say it to their face don't bother posting it online, keep it to yourself. As long as you're not doing stuff like that with the privilege you have with free speech on the internet, it should be perfectly fine to express your opinions and feelings, especially if you're a teenager or young adult.

The reason I think this is that being a teenager myself, we have all sorts of stress on our shoulders; having to do work, chores at home, social life, and even love life. All these things may be petty individually, but they rarely do come at you one at a time. I would know, I myself have a twitter and have expressed my feeling through it, whether appropriate or not, I felt i had to let my feelings out otherwise I wouldn't be able to take it.. When you're a teenager these things like social status matter to you a lot more than most people think they should, it reflects on how you feel upon yourself. This is one of the main points of stress, and social media can actually help alleviate the stress. It isn't good to keep your emotions bottled up inside, eventually the jar won't be able to hold it, and all the bottled up emotions may just burst open all at once.

If it's directed at someone, I would recommend that you refrain from posting it for everyone to see. Not only does it show people how you really feel about them, potentially hurting your relationships with friends, it also may affect the other person it is directed at. BUT if you feel you have to do it, do it on a private account that no one can see, it minimizes the amount of people seeing it to one- you, and also stops it from hurting anyone's feelings. Some people may think "Oh it's just a comment on a social network, it won't do any harm." such as Tyler the Creator with one of his most well-known tweets:






This doesn't apply to everyone. Some people may be more sensitive than others, cyber bullying is a very real thing, and something that strikes deep as well. Not only can it hurt you emotionally, it can hurt your social life which can be equally as painful. In VSauce's recent videos, Michael talks about the science of Awkwardness. He elaborates on how most people think about how other people see them, and how they stress on whether they see them in a positive or negative manner.

you can watch his video here

Overall, I don't particularly think that Twitter should be checked/governed. But I do think that their policies on particular posts should. Most people only do this behind a screen because it makes them feel more powerful on how they can say things anonymously, but people need to learn that there are things you should and shouldn't say online, or anywhere for that matter. But the bottom line is, people need to learn restriction on their actions online, as it can have an adverse effect on many different people, just learn your place, and stay in it. You don't have a right to tell people how to live their lives, leave them be, and as long as you keep yourself within appropriate boundaries, feel free to express yourself how you want on social media.