Saturday, December 2, 2017

Don't Let It Rattle You - Unsocial Media

I had an unusual event occur yesterday evening. A long-time “Facebook friend” blew up in a fit of profanity and unfriended me as he flailed away with a string of insults and personal attacks. We had never met in person. We did have a lot in common. It’s a shame because we even know some of the same people in “real life” –I have witnessed this with other people, but it has never happened to me until now.

In a way, I am saddened by it because all I did was ask a simple question (if he had read one book that I have in my collection by a particular author– and he went crazy all of a sudden).

This former friend has done this before with other people. He has definite anger management issues. The lesson to be learned from this is that we all have genuine friendships and there are so-called friendships with people online. Real friendships can come as the result of online “friendships” –but that is somewhat rare.

Don’t let a misunderstanding and subsequent thrashing by a so-called “friend” in social media hurt you emotionally. It is way too easy to have a simple misunderstanding with people on the other side of the world. In this case, the person in question often appears as a volatile, reactive individual. He has spewed foul language over politics and other topics on more than one occasion. Now, I guess I won’t be seeing his fits and bursts of outrage and I won’t miss them.

If you get caught in a similar situation, don’t let it rattle you. The cyber-world is filled with all kinds of people and flame wars occur virtually every day. That is why REAL friendships should be cherished all the more.

Friends come and go, people move on, only to become a distant memory. In the end, our “friends” online have little genuine influence in our lives. They are simply entertainment. They are merely players, performers in the theater of the online world.

When I see this sort of incident erupt in a forum or in social media I remember the immortal words of the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare, “What fools these mortals be.” Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Yes, these things happen.

Nothing to see here.

Move along.

BTW... If you want to learn how to deal with Unsocial Media check out Brandy Booth's book on the subject.

Here is a link...

https://www.amazon.com/Unsocial-Media-Management-Business-How/dp/1548450243/