By Viridiana Arroyo
Social media platforms have given us the ability to connect with each other to a magnitude that could have not been done before. It is one of the best things yet to happen in the cultural paradigm shift of the Digital Age. It's all amazing and great -- until it's terrible!
1. Who even uses Facebook anymore? But just to let you know Facebook is not yellow pages: The status update bar clearly says, "What on your mind?" not "What do you need now?" If you're looking for something, search the actual yellow pages; they even have an app now. You don't need to spam our dashboards with questions on where you can find a plumber's telephone or a good babysitter. I've seen people post looking for job openings through a Facebook update. This is some of our current generation -- where's the irony?
2. #Hashtag #Abuse: Don't be that person that literally places a hashtag in front of every word. We've been taught grammar and punctuation for a reason, so if you have the need to say something just say it. Also don't be that person that uses a hashtag to describe everything in a picture; we all know what a sunset or coffee is you don't have to specify it. Hashtags were intended for the purpose of making a trending topic easier to find, not for you to #chop #up #every #word #in #a #sentence (see how annoying that is?) or hashtag something that literally will only tag your picture. I've seen whole sentences hash-tagged, and that's just a crime. Hashtags are like acronyms; they only make sense when the rest of the world knows them too, not just yourself.
3. Like if you literally think those types of posts are not the face crack of social media; share if you're as desperate as those posts: Instagram and Facebook are two platforms owned by the same corporation, both of which broke through as ad campaigns. When a post is so funny or interesting you just have to let your friend-sphere in on the joke, there is a share option for that post -- another aspect of social media that makes topics trend. It's all fun and games until someone shares that religious picture that says if you don't like it or share it you're basically condemned to burn in hell for the rest of your afterlife. There's nothing wrong with sharing and posting your opinions and interests; social media platforms were also made for that. But, when a post like that spams your timeline for more than five times, it's annoying and you're getting unfriended or blocked.
4. The "I'm so generous and positive, I did something nice" status: Being kind and positive is what this vicious world needs more of. The constant news we get fed of injustices, massacres, the economy being in the gutter, laws that won't let you marry the person you love just because of their genderÖor hearing that the new iPhone is coming out when you just bought the latest one -- it's all a travesty. Sure, let people know that the soup kitchen needs volunteers and maybe the animal shelter needs more help. But if you look for likes to justify what you did, that's not cool, especially if the "contribution" you made was trivial. Giving a dollar to a homeless person is good, but writing a whole paragraph about how you're so giving and why everyone should start acting like you, as if you're a career philanthropist, is downright wrong.
5. We were given freedom of speech and 140 characters on Twitter for a reason; don't waste it on lyrics or inspirational quotes you got from Pinterest: Twitter is the platform where trending topics are created, aside from reddit and forums alike. It is also where unfinished sentences end up and where speaking with hashtags is the norm. It's the platform where saying that you just bought Starbucks is still acceptable -- not liked, but acceptable, because we all do it on Twitter. But tweeting out "There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs" doesn't motivate anyone other than to un-follow or mute you. PS -- Posting inspirational quote pictures is irrelevant too: We we all remember that cheesy poster in the high school English classroom that said "Homework doesn't belong at home" or something like that, usually in a really cheesy font like comic sans. Well, all that is now those gradient background photos you post on Instagram, and they're just as annoying.
Photo by Zachary Zdon: Graphic by Pam Black
