Antisocial media!
Going against my general negative feelings about Social Media (which I acknowledge are slightly in contradiction to me writing this), I've been watching Channel 4's The Circle... Compelling viewing! (Punch me...punch me now!)
I promise I'm not being a raging hypocrite on this one. I like Social Media when used positively, but as we have all witnessed at some point, when used negatively can damage people, businesses and relationships. 'The Circle' has been a fascinating tv experiment (like back when Big Brother was first on). For those of you who haven't seen it, it's 8 people in individual apartments in a building who can only communicate through 'The Circle' social media site. They have to gain popularity, rate each other and all those awful social media traits, but the fascinating part is that they can't just vent an opinion and walk away. They have to stand by what they say and be accountable for it. The people in there have gone through a cycle of venting, trusting and lying, to being more diplomatic, questioning who the other players are and getting caught out in lies. I've ranted on before about how I think people should #pausebeforeyoupost because you can't ever truly take it back once it's been read.(...as I quickly scan ahead to make sure I haven't said anything liable!)
'The Circle' is great but be warned, you will find yourself using the phrase 'Hashtag' on a daily basis and speaking in emojis! (#factsarefacts laughing face emoji)
The reason I bring this up is because I recently saw this kind of thing played out in real life. A mate of mine was being blanked by a friend with no explanation or cause that she could think of. This person was very obviously blanking her and sometimes even took the effort to give her a cold stare. (I get that compared to The Battle of Hastings it's pretty mild stuff, but still not nice!) I had witnessed this happen several times myself and if it was me I would have cut her out like the pointless appendix of a mate that she is!...but my mate isn't on her period and is more forgiving than me and always shook it off saying that this person was 'just a bit like that'. It was only when she tried to say Hi to her and was met with her 'friend's' well practiced cold stare, very short reply and Eastenders style walk off, that she understandably got a bit gritted teeth, twitchy eye about the whole thing. After this (almost) conversation, she text her to ask what the problem was. Eventually she replied saying she didn't mean to blank her, she didn't feel well and had to get the kids. I have to say, we did laugh at this point saying this stuff would generally only happen with females. If it was two men in this story it would go...
Man A: Is a bit hacked off with Man B so has a conversation without much detail.
Man B: Doesn't notice
Man A: Gets over it
Man B: ...is none the wiser
Man A and Man B have a beer.
In a truly female way, I'm going to over think this and liken it to negative posts online. To all intents and purposes, this person was posting a 1 star rating and an angry face emoji every time she saw her. She was actively putting it out there that she was mad, and yet when given the opportunity to resolve the problem, she did't take it. Is it because she would have to be held 'accountable' for her behaviour? When written down, did it occur to her that she was being unreasonable? She enjoys the drama of being angry? Some BS text with no apology only proved that she did in fact have an issue, but not the balls to say what it was! We see this so many times in reviews for products and companies, but how are we supposed to sift through the 'Angry people with too much time on their hands and unreasonable expectations' and those that are genuinely letting us know about a bad experience? Reviewers aren't held accountable, social media trolls are rarely held accountable and then you see it filter through in day to day life.
I know I don't normally go for a more serious blog, but the combination of the show and my mates story just got me trying to rationalise it all...which I still haven't! All I can conclude is that 'The Circle' is good viewing, Social Media is a slippery fish and my mate's friend should spit it out or get over it! (#lifestooshort snapping fingers left and right in front of face emoji...if there is one!)