Something To Talk About (on Social Media)

Social media is used by all ages and genders. The platforms are numerous and hold every topic imaginable. A discussion of any specific interest can be found on the internet. On social media, you can engage with someone in the next room, city, state, or continent away. The conversations are limitless, and the topics are just as infinite. So, if any person with any background and interests can access these platforms, why is it so hard for us to have necessary and often difficult conversations on social media?

Rebecca Ruiz wrote, “Talking about #MeToo on social media is hard, but we shouldn’t stop trying.” The article tackles the #MeToo movement that has quickly spread across the internet in a way I have yet to consider. Ruiz briefly discusses an article describing a woman’s encounter with a male celebrity in which she was pressured into performing sexual acts even after several verbal and nonverbal attempts to stop the encounter. Ruiz focuses on the importance of talking about the movement and acknowledging the acts and women behind the posts. She explains the only way to build a better future is to strive to change our thoughts and behaviors as to better stop these reoccurring instances from ever happening again. 

Ruiz accepts not every person is comfortable talking about such sensitive topics and can even feel ill-informed in the discussion. She encourages us to listen even if we have nothing to say. Ruiz simply wants us to have the ability to discuss the topic and allow it into our lives to better normalize the way we see such conversations. 

I found the article to be a necessary step in moving ahead with what to expect in future situations. While I believe we need to have people welcoming these topics into everyday discussions online and offline, the article raised another important question for me. Why is it so hard for us to have these types of conversations online?

My first instinct was to say that it is simply because of the nature at the center of the discussion. Many people find it unacceptable to talk about sex in such an open manner and even more are uncomfortable discussing experiences with sexual misconduct and allegations. These topics only get harder to discuss while on social media, but ultimately, I do not believe it is because of the topic. I think that while many of us have been on social media for a while, it is still a platform we are continuing to grasp. 

We can have a conversation about anything with anyone, but we are able to feel more detached to the situation because we are not having a face-to-face interaction with this person. By eliminating that interaction, we can often forget that there is a human behind the typed messages who have real experiences like you. We begin to think of them as the words we read from them, the pictures they post and the tags they add to their posts. If we are unable to connect the posts to a living person, we can often blow off their words as nothing more than a creative story rather than an experience. 

Social media is meant to be used as a way to bring people together but often causes us to disassociate the person from their posts.