I have been part of social media for 12 years now. For me that means I have been on Facebook 12 years. While I do have a twitter account which I rarely use (what I have to say usually cannot be contained to 140 chararacters or so). I also have an Instagram account, but don't really look at others photos and I am not sure if others look at mine. I am a member of LinkedIn but don't use it all that often either. No in terms of social media, Facebook is my vehicle of choice and I have only time for one vehicle.
Facebook does allow one to connect with half billion of folks all around the world. With so many users, there are millions of opinions. Some of those opinions I agree with. Many of those opinions I will disagree with. Facebook though does connect us with our friends and acquaintances. So I tend to see posts from people that I already know. Even amongst those people that I know, there are a variety of opinions. HOwever, because my friends list is made up mostly of my friends, I do tend to agree with many of the opinions that I read. My Facebook feed also shows me newsfeed from many different news agencies. Again however, I choose to subscribe to these. I tend to read CBC, BBC, the Washington Post, the Toronto Star and the Guardian. I have not subscribed to Fox News and the National Enquirer so I don't see their posts very often.
Facebook also gives me the option to prevent me from seeing posts from people that express things that I find totally abhorrent. I have had a few friends over the years and a number of acquaintances who have begun expressing racist or sexist remarks on social media. Maybe they always felt that way and I just didn't hear them or ignored their comments. Or maybe they have changed their minds on topics and are not the same people I thought they were. This is distressing to read these comments which I find so awful. FAcebook allows me the option to stop reading their posts either temporarily or permanently.
So in my Facebook world, I tend to read comments that I agree with. I am not likely to read things from Q Theorists or KKK members on my Facebook feed (thankfully I don't know any people who are part of these groups). I also don't read much from individuals who promote violence or hate (again not many of my acquaintances do that or if they do, they are blocked from my feed). So my Facebook reading does not upset me very often. I am wrong though to think that everyone thinks just like I do. Even though my bubble tends to be a nice gentle place, I have to know that others think differently. It is easy for me to agree with 90% of the things that come across my Facebook feed. However, I always have to remind myself that it is one thought bubble among many. Blessings.
