How much power does social media have?
Since I've been in management in one shape or another for most of my adult life, dealing with people and their quirks has been a focal point of my career. First running restaurants in my twenties and later on moving onto retail. So you could say in many ways, that becoming adept at understanding my fellow humans was somewhat necessary to do a good job.
One of the things I don't particularly miss from those days is the "call ins", the crazy times were someone would call the store, or restaurant for that matter, and tell me that he or she can't make it today because of x reason. Ok, before you give me some hate, yes, there are legitimate reasons to call in, but I can guarantee you that most of the time this was not the case.
In one of those skeleton crew evenings, the ones were the stress level is making sure I sport a lot more grey in the beard, I get the unexpected phone call. "Boss... I'm freaking out... I think I'm going to die... I won't be able to make it, I'm sorry", the phone hangs up and I'm left to worry to death.
Needless to say that kind of cryptic doomsday message was overboard ten times over, but for a second I doubted. "Could J really be in peril? Should I call the cops?" - Before overreacting I decided to talk to some of J's friends, see if they knew why all of the sudden J decided he could not make it to work.
About five minutes into the investigation I find out the horrible truth. J's relationship status had changed from in a relationship to single, and J's girlfriend was not answering the phone.
I sat there for a good five minutes thinking about how different today's world is. How someone's life can be thrown into chaos with a click of a mouse, how all of the sudden the relationship status section of a facebook page had become a contract of sorts, allowing people some sense of security. I was both fascinated and annoyed...
About two hours later J shows up to the store, late for his shift of course, all smiling. I was not about to let that one just slide, so I asked him bluntly - "Did she not mean to change the status? Did you freak out for nothing? You know this was a dumb reason to call in right?" - He looked back like a young boy who knew had messed up and said "Ohhh Boss, I'm sorry.. yeah... I freaked for nothing, turns out she deleted her facebook and took a nap"
I'm not going to lie, I wanted to laugh, but it was not the time or the place. That being said, the reality of it all was nothing to laugh about. How much power have we given to the follows, the unfollows, the relationships status and all?
Think about that for a minute... Is this normal?
It's been two months since I've logged in facebook. At this point I'm too afraid to go back in.
Just as normal as getting a dear John letter in the old days.
that's right my friend... hahahah
Lol right on, and even today I doubt it's much different for those recruits on Paris Isle or at Camp Pendleton.
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You've connected or at least tried to say that he had nothing to worry over when his significant other changed her status abd subsequently sent him a message basically of "k bye" and made that as somehow on the same level as with some blow shmo unfollowing him.
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It's not really obviously, but im still in awe as to how much weight we put into the events on social media. That is more the point, however this is just a little story I felt like sharing.
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Well of course though, what's the difference of "where" once the contents are of such obvious 'significance'?
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It's my older brain sometimes resisting the new way the world works... but your point is solid my friend... If this is the way the world works now, if this is where these things happen, they they are real and that is what matters.
Haha ok you cried uncle enough I'll stop now! You should hear how my wife handled managers without lying: she asks for personal time off, as in using up her sick days and aporoach it as everyone has so many sick days so does that mean she has to be sick to use them? Logic beat down ensuing.
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Relationships Make the World Go Round. Sometimes when they end it seems as if the world is ending too.
There is a difference between this type of behavior being accepted as normal, and it being a healthy and wise choice in dealing with social situations.
I see the issue stemming from a lack of emotional education inherent in our social educational system. we educate with facts but not skills. this deficit of appropriate response to social stimuli comes from a lack of mental and emotional clarity or mindfulness.
a lack of critical thinking skills, of learning how to make a sound decision, may lead to poor choices or seemingly irrational decision making. without correction, people become overwhelmed by todays social media world.
we introduce internet blogs and social media chat rooms with no thought as to social etiquette for younger users. what happens to the unmonitored precocious child who happens into an adult topic channel with the obligatory troll comments - what kind of a life-lesson are they receiving?
socially we are not taught how to appropriately handle emotions or put personal crises into perspective, to the point where our emotional reactions get so out of control they overwhelm us and spill over into real life, affecting friends, family, jobs, etc.
while this type of person (i have been there) makes us angry and frustrated, what they need is communication and compassion, a mini course in emotional organization. if businesses were smart, they would incorporate it into their human resources objectives as a necessary step in dealing with employees who are at risk.
brilliantly said puppy!! just brilliant
It's normal now by all accounts. What us "oldies" see as normal certainly isn't any more. Imagine having to end a relationship face to face or something. Id be interested to see the percentage of relationships nowadays that are ended over a text message or facebook status change.
there is a conversation going on somewhere right now something like this...
"oh you know what Joe did... he unfriended her... he didn't even dm her to break up, just unfriended her... what an a---- " and no one bats an eye... im sure.
that's why the divorces have gone in a historical high and the relationships don't last that long. The majority just check the social media to find a person they like which probably have alter a bit his image online, then they may talk a bit go out do something and if they form a relationship this gonna quickly end.
The reason why is that not much time is spending to actually form the relationship, learn how each other behaves and acts etc etc. If you like one night stands though it's another case ;)
Generally speaking social media have tremendous power. Someone posts something about a person i need and throughout the world they gather money. Someone says something that might be wrong or stupid and everyone will learn it in a couple of seconds,minutes and make fun of him
this comment of your reminded me of that guy who lost everything because he uploaded a video of himself complaining to a chick fil a employee on the gay rights issue.
He was a CEO of a big company, and got canned by the board. all because he uploaded it to facebook.
jajajaja No es normal hombre... pero, qué cosa es normal en este mundo, cada cabeza pensa diferente y quizás par J fue divertido llamar, o quizás si estaba sintiéndose mal, o quizás no quiso hacerlo, o quizás tú te asustaste sin razón... La gente es diferente... Menos mal en Steemit no tenemos Estado, podría ser peligro también? jajaja @meno me divertí mucho con tu historia.
Normal is continuing to be redefined each day. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the latest trend of what "normal" is... :)
.....unfortunately.
and it gets harder as I get older, right? hahahaha
It has taken over almost everything, social media is now the market and the market is the economy if you know what i mean @meno