Friday, September 6, 2019

Never Do This!

Social media, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, etc., are useful, but one should tread upon these minefields with great care, making personal rules of usage for safety purposes.

One thing social media is NOT good for is dealing with conflict. Someone posts something you don't like, don't complain, don't shoot back your response full of feeling, don't get vindictive, don't try to correct people publicly on social media. It doesn't work!

If you are trying to make someone feel bad, you might get what you want, but it proves you are not a good person, or at least you are not being kind and wise.

If people are important to you, if your relationships are important to you, don't try to solve problems using social media. The loving thing to do is to talk in person with whom you have a problem. It's easy to shoot out a criticism online, it's harder to confront someone to their face. The first is ineffective and a lot of time cowardly, the latter is valuing the relationship, caring enough to fight for it.

Tone of voice and gestures communicate so much more than just the words, and text is so easily misunderstood. Edda and I have counseled a couple who didn't talk anymore; they "talked" through Whatsapp. And they almost destroyed their marriage.

If there is any chance of misunderstanding, call the person, talk face to face, and let them know their friendship means so much to you, that it deserves more than hasty words blurted out for all the world to see.

No comments:

Post a Comment