Surviving Social Media

IT'S DANGEROUS OUT THERE!!!!

It’s great that you’ve decided to help the cause by engaging with others on line. It can be quite rewarding but we need to face the fact that, well, it’s a jungle out there with big scary monsters who like to feed on retiring little XR members like us. So, more than anything, when you join in the Digital Rebellion actions or comment generally in support of XR principles, we want you to stay safe.

Here are some things you can do that will make things safer:

Get a new identity
Identities on line are not quite as easy to get as they used to be. It may be that your internet provider gives you the option to create multiple addresses for the same account and that’s a good place to start. However, a good alternative is completely separate Google account, it’s a bit of a palaver to set up but a lot of the commenting areas we direct you to let you log in with a google account which saves a lot of time.

Be nice
There are a lot of fellow commenters who will express things that will make you angry but it’s best not to engage, no matter how you feel; it’s especially important not to get personal because they will get personal right back at you and they are likely better at it than you! Keep your cool and be polite; commenters will find ways of attacking back no matter how careful you are – they will simply make stuff up – but give them as little opportunity as possible. If things get particularly nasty you may find yourself banned from the channel.

Stay focussed
Sometimes discussion threads can go off at tangents and take you down all sorts of rabbit holes as you find out more about the other poster and they you. This can lead to upsetting slanging matches, but more simply, it wastes your time.

Beware of the trolls
There’s people out there who needle you just for the fun of it. Try and be aware of when this is happening and...

Walk away
Social media is a time-vampire as well as emotionally draining; give yourself boundaries. If you get angry that’s a definite red flag and you should take a break, but if the dog needs a walk or it’s suddenly 3am or you realise you’ve not eaten for 12 hours then stop – look after yourself first.

Have a sense of perspective
Any single post you make is unlikely to change any minds on its own. In many ways, we’re more interested in the people who read but don’t comment, the undecided; we're more interested in the overall tone of a discussion than any conclusions it reaches. We want to try and create an environment where disinformation doesn’t have free reign, where opposing views exist even if they are shouted down.

Each positive post we make shifts the conversation ever so slightly, not just in the discussion we’re having but in the next one people visit and the next. It’s a slow process but we have to use every tool we have to put our case across and individuals are opinion-makers too.

You’ll find a longer discussion on how we can practice self care when being active on social media here.

Written by Fergus

Digital Rebellion