It can be hard to post every day. Life intrudes or there is nothing interesting to say or I pull my punches on something I might not want to share publicly (even though less than 20 people will read this). Yesterday was a good example. I saw a tweet that bugged me. It was sent out by someone I follow and was one of those "here is some stuff you should do to appreciate life" (e.g., "pet a dog," "call your parents," etc.) with some really dumb advice ("quit your job") that could only be sent by someone who is either clueless or super entitled and has no idea how their advice might read when they share it right after returning from a two-week all-expenses-paid trip abroad courtesy of those parents who she told you to call. I mean, if you live in NYC and most of your feed is tweets about the Bachelor and your Pilates class, maybe you're not the best person to dole out advice to, oh, I don't know, a single mom with two kids who has to rely on her parents to watch the kids while she works a job she can't afford to quit?
I guess it also highlighted something *I* do not want to accept - that even having the time to mindlessly tweet suggests a certain amount of privilege and that it is fine (?) to tell your likewise privileged followers and friends that it's ok to eat the extra cookie and book that trip because hey, you don't know or have the struggle that most people do. I guess the difference is I am not out there bragging on it, I grew up modestly and know from humility and why it is better to just keep that shit to yourself.
Follow me on Twitter - @scarylawyerguy
Hmm...so why is it better to just "keep that shit to yourself"? Just asking. Because of your humility? Because you don't want to make others that are less fortunate feel bad? If it is the latter, I think it's obvious to most people who are in the "have" box, and who are in the "have not" box, whether it's out in the open or not. Also, it's not a new phenomenon - just that people are kinda waking up to how these disparities are a societal issue that eventually affects everyone. If it's the former, it makes sense if it is part of your personality, but the truth, again, is that most folks know there are disparities out there for various reasons - keeping it to yourself doesn't make you less a part of the group of the "haves". I think being modest is good virtue, but don't deny yourself any personal good-hearted enjoyment because of it. Just saying :)
ReplyDeleteI just find the performative aspects of social media kind of gross, particularly when they are performed by people with either a lot of naivete or a lot of entitlement (maybe both).
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