What other ways do you spread kindness on social media? Please click here to share your ideas.
Kindness
Social Media
Social media has revolutionized the way we all communicate. Whether it is communication with friends and family or following our favorite businesses and brands, social media tears down the barriers of communication that were once so high.
Despite the expanded accessibility of communication, however, social media is not without fault. Unfortunately, this interconnectedness can bring increased exposure to negative interaction. Social media makes it easy to not only make negative comments but to respond back to negative comments with more negativity. This can create a negative spiral that eventually leads to hate. These spirals can very easily cause distrust in social media or society as a whole. In 2020, the Pew Research Center concluded that 64% of American adults believe social media has a mostly negative impact on the way things are going in the country today.
Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible!
Kindness
Social Media
Clearly, there is some consensus that the effect of negativity on social media does not stay on social media; it becomes part of everyday life. Additionally, social media platforms have been heavily criticized for inaction when dealing with hate groups and allowing these hate spirals to thrive. The Associated Press published an article in 2020 examining changes implemented on popular social media platforms. In an interview, Bjork-James, an anthropology professor at Vanderbilt University, puts much of the blame on algorithms developed by social media platforms. “[algorithms] have provided perhaps the biggest boon to organized racism in decades, as they help racist ideas find a much larger and potentially receptive audience”
While social media appears to be enabling all of these negativity problems, the solution lies within users on these platforms. All you need to fight these negative interactions on social media is kindness. Actions that are kind come from a sincere origin and are hard to interpret negatively. While it might be entertaining to ‘make a point’ to somebody or make a backhanded comment toward someone you don’t like, those acts can degrade your own sense of kindness. Giving legitimate compliments toward everybody and learning when to stop a passionate conversation so that it doesn’t become a heated argument are vital skills needed to maintain a kind atmosphere.
Kindness
Social Media
While social media appears to be enabling all of these negativity problems, the solution lies within users on these platforms. All you need to fight these negative interactions on social media is kindness. Actions that are kind come from a sincere origin and are hard to interpret negatively. While it might be entertaining to ‘make a point’ to somebody or make a backhanded comment toward someone you don’t like, those acts can degrade your own sense of kindness. Giving legitimate compliments toward everybody and learning when to stop a passionate conversation so that it doesn’t become a heated argument are vital skills needed to maintain a kind atmosphere.
Kindness
Social Media
Practicing kindness on social media can be a challenge, but the positive impact made will most certainly spread to others who see your kind comments and attitudes. If social media platforms can be rejuvenated with kindness, many of the negativity problems created through social media can be resolved.
What other ways do you spread kindness on social media? Please click here to share your ideas, we’d all love to learn more ways to spread kindness! Be kind. Take care and stay connected.
