Why I’m ‘omnipresent’ on social media and ok with it

Raise your hand if you are or know someone who steers clear of social media activity. You’ve probably said one or more of the following statements at some point:

“Please don’t tag me in that post”

“I don’t put my whole life up for display on Facebook”

“Why does he/she have to be so OUT THERE?”

..and a whole many more self-righteous, almost snobbish statements laced with judgement, in a voice dripping with condescension. I know I might have. Somehow, having strong social media activity is increasingly associated with superficiality, and attention-seeking tendencies while the opposite is associated with being somehow morally superior and valuing one’s privacy to a greater extent. And I have a problem with this. Let me tell you why.

At the risk of this entire article coming across as a rationalization (which it isn’t, it’s a justification. Yes, there’s a difference.), I still choose to write it, because I care about the dissemination of ideas, about sharing opinions, and about having healthy debate. This is the number one reason I am so into this stuff. It gives a voice to all sorts of people — introverts, extroverts, ambiverts, from all genders, all ethnicities, all nationalities, all walks of life. It’s the most inclusive and the ultimate melting pot of diverse ideas, opinions, voices and schools of thought. And it’s surprising how the collective myopic vision of a large subset of these very people causes them to discount this fact in favor of the more common cynicism and condescension most popularly associated with social media.

The more bothersome part is that this subset of people don’t completely shun social media, they are on it, they actively consume information from these very platforms. These social media stories and conversations then permeate our physical social lives, as we discuss them in parties and over dinner tables and with colleagues, etc. And we subconsciously draw these from a pool to which a much smaller proportion of active social media members actually contribute. It’s like the 80–20 principle, in this case (roughly, of course), 80% of people consume content created by 20% of people. I don’t judge people who don’t care to contribute to this collective pool from which we all consume, all I beg for is the same tolerance and non-judgement in return.

Personally, I care about creating and maintaining a digital footprint — whether a digital trail of places I visit through checkins, or visual memories on Facebook/Instagram, or opinions on issues of social/national/global importance by indulging in social commentary, or sharing recommendations on anything from Yelp to Goodreads, or expressing my professional personality on LinkedIn, or contributing to worldly knowledge on Quora. I actively contribute my opinions, a drop in the ocean along with billions of others, in the hope that someone, somewhere experiences a resonation with my voice, or learns something new, or gets onto something just as I have through numerous posts, comments or articles over the years.

This is not to say that social media don’t have their own set of written or unwritten rules, or maybe the better word is ethics. I admit to getting slightly annoyed myself about these getting violated — misplaced information, redundant information, using the wrong platform for the wrong type of information, using platforms for outright gloating, spamming people, mass-invitations, bullying, hate speech/propaganda, and the list goes on. I wish there was a method to all the madness, but the lack of structure is what makes it even more unique, inclusive and valuable. Besides, if even the most outrageous (to my senses) of these don’t manage to unhinge me, I would consider myself a truly tolerant person, and it is my constant endeavor to keep moving in that direction.

I’m also going to add a bit about tolerance here — a word, that has in recent times become so heavily laden with controversy. True freedom of speech and expression don’t just mean being free to express oneself, to the point of abusing it (your words, not mine), it also means taking up the responsibility to make sure others enjoy that same freedom to the same extent as you do. You may not be holding someone to gun point and depriving them of it, but you might be de-incentivizing people in subtle ways, when you pass snide remarks about their social media activity, for example. As for me, I still get a lot of flak for being ‘overtly’ active on social media, but it stopped bothering me a long time back, because I find value and meaning in it, and so find it worth my time (a very scarce resource, indeed).