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Shouting Into the Void

··623 words·3 mins
Thoughts Social Commentary Writing Social Media
Author
Moulting Penguin
Table of Contents

or … Posting on Social Media
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Sometimes I have a thought (it’s rare, but it does happen), and I think about writing about it. I ponder about the value of my thought. I like to fantasize that I’m having some great insight, that my thoughts are original, have deep meaning, and others would be materially affected by knowing what my thoughts are.

By the time I get out of the shower, I usually forget whatever it is I’ve been thinking, and I get on with my day.

For reasons that elude me, we have a NextDoor account. Christ, what a shit-show. No, I don’t go to the site. I avoid social media in general, and while I might occasionally happen across a Twitter/X, Instagram, or Tiktok post, it’s not like I browse those sites.

However, for NextDoor, I get email notifications of posts. I originally thought it would be good to know what’s going on “in the neighborhood”. Little did I realize how how afar my “neighborhood” would range, nor just how much crap is posted. Since the emails are designed to hook you into going to the site, at first I would go there to read the full post. I have since decided that if they’re only going to show me the first 10 words of the post, or whatever, well, then, I don’t need to read it unless there’s something that seems to be useful. 99 out of 100 times, it’s not useful.

Anyway, I can classify NextDoor posts into the following categories:

  • I wanna be a cop (and enforce my will on others). You can tell these by the ones that talk about “perps” or “subjects”, describing them in their best press-release verbiage as they can.

  • Snitches (VERY similar to the wanna be cops), posting pictures from their Ring cameras of “suspicious” people who are “up to no good”. The only difference between these and the wanna be cops is the language.

  • Can someone make me food? Or clean my house? Or take my kids to school? Sometimes these are dressed up as “Can anyone recommend a good housekeeper”.

  • Complainers. “I went to some random place and a mean person was mean to me!” “I was minding my own business and this insane person was mean to me!”

  • Cute wildlife picture!

  • Gossip. While this would appear to be gossip, it’s generally “What’s going up on this corner?” or “What’s happening to this place?” or “Where’s my favorite place for X now?”. I call it gossip, but it’s not (generally) about people. Unless it’s “What are all the cops doing at …” or “I heard a bang!” or the like.

Occasionally there are pleas for civility, or posts about how “We’re so blessed”. Oh how they posted something and it was banned and they don’t understand and . . . by the time I see it, get curious enough, and click the link, I find that post is taken down.

I realized one day with this particular thought that, well, people like to be heard. It’s not shouting into the void if you can tell yourself hundreds/thousands/millions of people read what you say. And if you complain, and people say “That’s outrageous! You are justified in your outrage!”, well, then, hells yeah! Engagement equals validation! Even if someone disagrees with you, they can only disagree with you if you exist. And, besides, they’re wrong.

But I still say you’re shouting into the void. I could say, it, like all social media, is a cesspool of self-indulgence.

But, well, here I am. Shouting into the void.

I just don’t pretend anyone gives a shit. Or will ever read this.

[Update: I guess I’m not alone in my thoughts on “engagement”, etc..]