When I joined Facebook in 2008, it was a great thing for me because I was able to communicate with friends that I lost in touch with after high school, college, and both law schools (I have two law degrees). Since then, I’ve been able to meet some of them in person, thanks to my many events around the country.
Yet Facebook has a dark side. It breeds narcissism and it breeds online bullying and it’s obvious through my community’s Facebook newsgroups. The fighting on these groups is a form of human cockfighting where people seem to have muscles based on their keyboards. They will insult people they don’t know online and wouldn’t have the courage to say it in person and to their face.
Here is a shortlist of what annoys me about the comments in these groups:
- People posting false information about Coronavirus, that could easily be debunked with a 2-minute search on snopes.com.
- People arguing about politics and which politician is to blame for this. Arguing about politics is like arguing about religion, no one is getting converted to another side by a Facebook debate.
- People who have decided they are now medical experts and constitutional lawyers because they found an article on the Internet.
- Complaining that restaurant takeout prices went up. Supplies cost more, restaurants are dying because they’ve been reduced to takeout, and people working there have lost their jobs. People have a right to complain, but they don’t need to express it online all the time. We are all having it rough now, but some people are having a rougher time especially any restaurant employee who has lost their job.
- People who have wisely abided by the shelter in place instructions, yet feel the need to act as a school hall monitor for those that don’t abide. I can control my own behavior, I can’t control the behavior of others.
Schools are having a rough time in rolling out long-distance learning. People shouldn’t express their displeasure online because there are people online who only want people to think nice happy thoughts about schools and teachers. That’s why my school district isn’t doing so well with an ineffective superintendent and clueless school board.
