Social media rhetoric needs to simmer
About a decade ago I sat in a lecture hall at my college, with the rest of my track and field teammates, for a team meeting.
This was when social media really began taking off and our coaches were concerned what kind of trouble a bunch of mostly 18 and 19 year olds could find themselves in.
The big concern at that time was someone from the team being tagged on Facebook in a photo, which could warrant being suspended from the team, or at the very least, a serious conversation with the coaches and or athletic director.
While I don’t remember every detail, I remember specifically the coaches laying down the strict rules we all had to follow: our Twitter accounts would be set to private, we would have to be cautious of who we accepted as followers, and we were required to set our Facebook accounts so we had to accept any time someone tried to tag us in a photo or a post.
A lot of the team, myself included, were hot-headed young people who thought we knew the world better than anyone else and there was a lot of annoyance.
Fast forward to last Thursday. I was laying on my couch scrolling through Facebook, catching up on what was happening back home 1,400 miles away.
I stumbled upon a Facebook post from a Facebook “friend” about financial issues plaguing the school district.
It quickly became a back and forth between the individual and the mayor of my hometown. Similar to places like Minneapolis and St. Paul, the mayor isn’t a ceremonial position and instead is a full-time position.
The conversation of course escalated into name calling with the individual calling the mayor a joke with the mayor of the second largest community in the state, responding by saying “You are a joke, a bad one.”
Really? My hometown, particularly the school district, is facing a budget crisis, and is working on building two brand new high schools despite the current economic circumstances, and this is what is being said on Facebook.
I think a lot of people on both sides of the political aisle would agree the rhetoric right now is out of control.
While many people want to chalk it up to national politics the reality is it’s likely just as bad on the local level.
This is just one example of the type of rhetoric which belongs on a playground somewhere not by grown adults who are supposed to lead government entities.
My hope is that local leaders, officials, and elected officials will see what is happening on the national level, realize people are generally sick of it, and will consider a different approach when it comes to posting or commenting on social media.
It’s a lesson I learned at 19 years old, and it’s something I still consider at almost 30 years old, and hopefully it’s a lesson local schools are teaching our young people.
But it’s also a lesson, many adults seem to still need to be taught.
In today’s already polarizing times it would be a valuable lesson.