To Share or Not to Share
My use of social media has always been low as I didn’t care much for it. But the pandemic made me feel isolated so I spent a lot more time on Facebook to connect with other people. Especially when most people actually showed to care about one another. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that misinformation is easy to spread if people are not accountable for themselves.
There are multiple times I’ve been wrong on my inferences which is why I seek to talk to someone else about it. I had no one to talk about it, I thought if I share it with some people, “Perhaps one person will want to clarify things? Perhaps someone will have a new insight I missed?” Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. No one was interested.
I had to dig in and find answers for myself based on all of the public and primary information available online.
Research is messy and even if there are wrong findings along the way at least I tried to do something to understand the way things work. At least I shared to get some feedback although none was given. Were people disinterested because we are used to being given information and only agreeing or disagreeing with it?
Well, sometimes information is not about agree or disagree. It’s about discussion and to help fill in the blind spots of another person.
“Creativity is just connecting things.” — Steve Jobs
To me research is a form of creativity.
I don’t like relying on fact-checking tools unless I can read all of the sources for their conclusion. I believe relying on apps to think for us is dangerous.
The ‘Share’ button is a dangerous action to take. Just because a lot of people are saying it, it doesn’t mean it’s true.
Social media is just as complex as we are. Before sharing a post, we might want to consider asking ourselves, “Is it really worth sharing?”
Maybe this layer of thinking can help us be accountable for the information we share.
The information you share might have some rottenness to it. Are you willing to take the risk?
