Last night The Golden Motors went over to Claire Flint Last's Paper Moon Photo Studio and had our pictures taken. Andrew Lathrop also took some vid for a "Kickball Queen" video. Plus we practiced three or four new songs. Claire's got a cool set up. Look for a kickball-related casting call soon.
I've been on Twitter for about a week. I like posts that are pithy and personal, by people I know, like Ed Cole's post about riding in the rain this week and being "all wet all the time." I've turned off most reposting. I like social media but like it most when people say something real, that isn't complainy or trivial, that has some real creativity in it. Scott McClean's Facebook posts in the last month have been a creative blast. But nine re-posted Smiths videos isn't a data stream I need to be part of.
On a more serious note, I wonder how often people take it seriously when someone's Facebook posts suggest the possibility of despair, clinical psychological difficulty, or potential self-harm. After seeing the Eugene community (and a friend's long term extended family) touched again by suicide, I think we should all take what people have to say on social media sites more seriously, and with more assertive compassion. There's a sense that we are all dicking around on these sites, that it's not real--that we're all out on a digital stroll picking and choosing what we want to focus on. Most of it being trivial diversion (reposted Smiths videos.) But for a generation of kids who may only know how to communicate via text, Facebook, and Twitter, a statement of resignation or despair or disorder might mean something REAL.
Tendinitis of the thumbs from teenage texting is, well, really funny. Facebook pages that turn into memorial walls are not. And it's on adults to figure out the difference.
1 comments:
I watched a movie once that showed footage from cameras that were pointed at the Golden Gate bridge for one full year. The movie interviewed family members of people who had jumped from the bridge, as well as one young man who survived his suicide attempt. A clear theme emerged. Most of the time the people who'd committed suicide had tried numerous times to express their despair to others, and most of them were very isolated in their despair because no one reached out to them. The young man who survived walked across a few miles of San Francisco to the bridge sobbing -- and not one person asked him whether he was OK. So, yes, when friends, loved ones, neighbors express these emotions via an online platform that for many is a primary form of communication, do respond. Do express your concern and let them know they are loved and valued.
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