Social Media (the good and the bad)

illdecide · April 27, 2023, 09:28:07 AM

Guys, just a debate on your general thoughts on "Social Media"...I look at the GAA Board here and several other similar forum boards and think it can be great to socialise and discuss your team and players/injuries etc and have some banter after a games etc but the bad side of "Social Media" is the Twitters/Facebooks etc where people can generally be nice but there are always people there to put someone down or say terrible things on anything. I don't really do Facebook or Twitter ( i have them on my phone but only for viewing) but the vile stuff people post are insane. Genuinely I have a rule of thumb that you should only post what you would say to someone's face, I know people hide behing their keyboards and act the big lad and majority of the times their actions go unpunished but surely some day it will catch up on them...The main thing though is what do people get out of ripping the middle out of someone on line and do they not think of the friends and family that read and hear these things.
I think the World we live in today has lost it's marbles TBH...the younger ones can't function without their phones. The interaction skills are non existant and they just have a different way of life compared to when i was young...I'm so glad i was young in the 80's

RedHand88 · April 27, 2023, 09:45:35 AM

Overall, I think it's negative. Very very negative actually. As you say the stuff that people of all political persuasions post on Twitter/Facebook under anonymous accounts is desperate.
The problem is that the 20% who are the extremists are also the loudest. So everyone else who is primarily a viewer, not a poster, feels they must be an extremist too.
I think the first thing that needs to be done is to take away the anonymity of accounts, but this will of course never happen as memberships would plummet.

JoG2 · April 27, 2023, 09:53:22 AM

* stay as far away from the Twitters of this world as possible. Far too angry, this place is catching up too right enough

* turn the news off too, if its important you'll hear about it

* keep wains involved in team sports ie away from the devices and surrounded by other wains

tintin25 · April 27, 2023, 10:12:53 AM

Have a facebook account but wouldn't use it for posting anything personal - good for keeping up-to-date with things going on in the local GAA club and gym etc. Unfollowed Belfast Live and the likes and any of my 'friends' who were obsessed with humble bragging posts. Stopped watching the news (all negative) and likes of that Nolan Live rubbish a long time ago. Needless to say I feel alot better!

RedHand88 · April 27, 2023, 10:19:07 AM

This is the only "social media" I would have (do forums even count?)
Don't have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat etc and I do not miss them.

square_ball · April 27, 2023, 10:24:06 AM

I've limited twitter use to following sport/scores and that's about it. It's a cesspit otherwise. Use a bit of instagram and TikTok can be entertaining enough. Facebook is the biggest pile of dung.

clarshack · April 27, 2023, 10:30:53 AM

Only really use FB now to see what's happening on the local running scene, Twitter is poisonous and Instagram is probably the best of a bad bunch.

trueblue1234 · April 27, 2023, 10:56:56 AM

Use Facebook and here. Have an insta account as well but don't really know how to work it and haven't bothered.
It has its uses. I save any decent family pics to Facebook. It's nice getting the memories coming back up especially now when the kids are growing up. I have a ball of photos on the phone but never look at them, so that's a function I enjoy.
I think social media has its positives and negatives. I think there should be much more education to young people on the power of it and impact it can have. Kids should have to sit a compulsory module on it in year 9. Cover everything in detail, bullying, misinformation, addiction, crime etc. It's too big a tool to let kids on without training. It can literally affect their entire life and the life's of others.

Orior · April 27, 2023, 11:52:34 AM

Forums like this are good, because they are well managed.

Others like Twitter are not good as they give a platform to people who are not intellectually capable or deserving. That said I do like to follow Jamie Bryson, Jim Alister, Kate Hoey and RDE just to hear the absolute nonsense and hate that they spew.

seafoid · April 27, 2023, 12:03:56 PM

Twitter is ok as long as you stay away from certain areas. Most people are decent, I think.
This board is great but one of the trans threads showed how easy it is to get a culture war going.

Taylor · April 27, 2023, 12:08:36 PM

Quote from: Orior on April 27, 2023, 11:52:34 AM
Forums like this are good, because they are well managed.

Others like Twitter are not good as they give a platform to people who are not intellectually capable or deserving. That said I do like to follow Jamie Bryson, Jim Alister, Kate Hoey and RDE just to hear the absolute nonsense and hate that they spew.

I dont get this at all.
You are correct that they spout nonsense and hate but it is the people following them that gives them the attention they so crave.

If no one followed them they would drift off into obscurity however because they have a lot of followers (majority who seem to disagree with them) the media latch onto them and it gives them a platform to spout their hatred and ensure this place remains a cesspit.

RedHand88 · April 27, 2023, 12:25:41 PM

From what i remember about 90% of the replies to Brysons tweets were Nationalists lol.

Taylor · April 27, 2023, 12:29:21 PM

Quote from: RedHand88 on April 27, 2023, 12:25:41 PM
From what i remember about 90% of the replies to Brysons tweets were Nationalists lol.

Exactly - which is giving him the media attention he needs to survive & remain relevant.

Baffling

imtommygunn · April 27, 2023, 01:03:37 PM

I use twitter a reasonable amount and all those ones are blocked. They crave attention and don't even believe half of what they write. They are not good for society at all and the less people who follow and reply to them the better for all of us.

JoG2 · April 27, 2023, 01:23:18 PM

Quote from: Taylor on April 27, 2023, 12:08:36 PM
Quote from: Orior on April 27, 2023, 11:52:34 AM
Forums like this are good, because they are well managed.

Others like Twitter are not good as they give a platform to people who are not intellectually capable or deserving. That said I do like to follow Jamie Bryson, Jim Alister, Kate Hoey and RDE just to hear the absolute nonsense and hate that they spew.

I dont get this at all.
You are correct that they spout nonsense and hate but it is the people following them that gives them the attention they so crave.

If no one followed them they would drift off into obscurity however because they have a lot of followers (majority who seem to disagree with them) the media latch onto them and it gives them a platform to spout their hatred and ensure this place remains a cesspit.

Same, Bryson, Hoey etc invited into your life, being a daily part of your life, that is madness if you ask me.