Make a Statement Or Else

One of the many reasons I’ve left social media, or at least severely limited my use of it, is the ever-increasing pressure to have an opinion. Not only to have an opinion, but to have the right one.

I’ve learned the hard way that in a heated and divided world, complicated emotions can easily be misconstrued. But despite that risk, if you don’t act fast and make some sort of statement about injustices, you can quickly become a target of anger. With the expectation of near-instant responses, and the illusion that everything we put online summarizes the entirety of our complex personalities, there’s a danger in being expected to spit out bite-sized views on important topics.

I have a million thoughts a minute. My opinion of things changes constantly. I see the danger in assuming that a person’s status, tweet, or blog post reflects their entire approach to life. We should be approaching social media output as the fluid, ever changing being that it is. And yet… if you slip up and say something perceived as controversial… you’re cancelled.

No idea what the answer is here. And my goal isn’t to find one. But I do wonder how we can reflect our shifting identities in a medium imbued with a sense of permanence.