the_gneech (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_gneech) wrote2013-03-27 09:36 am
the_gneech) wrote2013-03-27 09:36 am
Entry tags:
When Twitter Attacks
The thing with social media is finding the right balance of enough people to follow that you're connected, but not so many you're overwhelmed, comfortable enough that it doesn't cause you distress, diverse enough that it's not just a giant echo chamber...
The past few weeks my mood stability has been on the vulnerable side, and I've found that more often than not social media (and especially Twitter, as it's far and away the most active form of social media) have ranged from wearying to infuriating. So I've been going through and targeting posters who, even if I agree with them, add stress, and quietly unfollowing them.
This is a tricky thing to do when I'm emotionally wobbly... the temptation is to go all Oprah on it. "You get an unfollow, and YOU get an unfollow-- EVERYBODY GETS AN UNFOLLOW!" But that's neither healthy nor productive in the long run, it's just the tendency-towards-implosion that emotional wonkiness creates.
But trimming the social media tree is a good thing every once in a while. There are enough stressors I can't control, there's no reason to hold onto the ones that I can control.
-The Gneech
The past few weeks my mood stability has been on the vulnerable side, and I've found that more often than not social media (and especially Twitter, as it's far and away the most active form of social media) have ranged from wearying to infuriating. So I've been going through and targeting posters who, even if I agree with them, add stress, and quietly unfollowing them.
This is a tricky thing to do when I'm emotionally wobbly... the temptation is to go all Oprah on it. "You get an unfollow, and YOU get an unfollow-- EVERYBODY GETS AN UNFOLLOW!" But that's neither healthy nor productive in the long run, it's just the tendency-towards-implosion that emotional wonkiness creates.
But trimming the social media tree is a good thing every once in a while. There are enough stressors I can't control, there's no reason to hold onto the ones that I can control.
-The Gneech
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People I often like a great deal seem to use social media as a place to vent their negative thoughts. All their negative thoughts. Especially their anger and pettiness. It's like there's no filter... they go from thinking it to typing it without pausing to think, "does this accomplish anything beyond make me feel better, and maybe just telling my cat might serve the same purpose without polluting everyone else's day".
I'm not going to argue with them that they shouldn't do that. But I can't subject myself to it either, and if it's something they do habitually...
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-TG
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I once write a post about one of the reasons I hate the casual use of profanity, where I said that I thought of profanity as a huge "THIS IS REALLY UPSETTING SO I AM CURSING ABOUT IT" sign, because, you know, that's what it used to be. When people start using it constantly, it continually hits my "SOMEONE IS REALLY DANGEROUSLY UPSET DO SOMETHING!" button, and jacks up my stress level and makes me think I need to help or fix or stay away.
But then, people do it often enough, and I can no longer tell when they're really upset... or worse, I just assume they're in a state of perma-upset, and I give up on helping. I just stay away all the time.
That's what people need to be aware of when they're constantly dumping negative thoughts like that. They're training the people around them to treat them as the Boy/Girl Who Cried Wolf.
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-TG
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