Social Media & Social Change
From Halley Sherwood
The state of the world over the past several weeks (months?? Years??) has felt like one of those scary movies where the main character keeps walking into the dark creepy room after hearing a noise, only to be chased and chainsaw-massacred. I actually had a whole other post written up, one full of angry tears.
And then I logged off social media. I’ve been ‘sober’ for like 2 weeks (except for one day in there to post my Oregon Country Fair highlights 🤦🏻♀️), and my anger already feels more constructive and less scattered.
What I’ve got here is a combination of the two posts I had drafted: a discussion on social media and social change.
I’ll start with my realizations*:
*note that you are not required to find these realizations relatable in any way
Although it is an amazing outlet for self-expression and creativity and connection, social media really is causing so much harm, not only to us as individuals, but as a society. I know that isn’t really new news to anyone, but stay with me.
1. At 2 weeks sober, I would make the argument that consistent social media actually dampens our collective ability to be creative. Creativity and joy and entertainment come out of moments of boredom, not constant consumption of ‘content.’ By not allowing ourselves time to just be, and eventually to be bored, we stifle our potential for joy and creativity.
2. FOMO culture: if you’re not constantly seeing what other people are doing, where they’re going, and who they’re with, this immense sense of FOMO comes out, which for me, leads to this weird and constant underlying impulse to check my phone. Not only that, but we then feel like we need to show and tell everyone what WE’RE doing too. At that point, are we just doing things and living to post about it?
3. I’ve also just realized that being constantly absorbed in social media and other people’s lives leads you to feel like you should always be somewhere else doing something else. It makes it nearly impossible to live IN the moment and IN your truth.
In addition to all of that, I’ve begun to connect this social dilemma to all of the horrible shit that’s happening around the world right now. We’re actually at a point in history where we’re LOSING freedoms at a higher rate than we’re gaining them.
The fact that my own sovereignty, my own freedom is that easy to take away, is something I can hardly comprehend.
I cannot even begin to imagine what it’s like to be a Native woman, or a Black woman, both of whom the U.S. government has continuously disrespected and failed to protect since the year 1492. I think of all the broken promises made to the Native people in relation to their culture, their land, and their sovereignty. I think of what it must be like to have ALWAYS had laws in place that prevent you from choosing to live life the way you want. I think of the way they have roped us all into this system in which fighting against it means giving up everything we know.
4. Social media has openly become a tool for sparking short-lived outrage, pushing agendas, creating fear, and distracting us from what really matters. Every day we’re hit with information about a new world problem. We’re hit with so many, in fact, that we fail to do anything helpful about ANY of them. In this AMAZING podcast episode about the ‘Attention Crisis,’ Johann Hari discusses how this has created an environment in which we can’t focus on anything for too long, which makes organizing and social movements impossible to sustain. What a terrifying thought.
My last realization came from another outstanding podcast episode about ‘Stories of Indigenous Resistance & Regeneration.' (Click here to listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Soundcloud.) One of the most angering, yet inspiring things I’ve heard in a long time. It reminded me that we are not entitled to feeling good all the time. Things that make us angry or make us sad, do so because change is required. And more often than not, change requires extreme courage.
I truly believe no one has more courage than the Indigenous peoples of the world. The way they've been fighting for the preservation of this planet— fighting for the water and the land and the biodiversity and US— like they are fighting for their lives because they KNOW the two are intrinsically interconnected, is something that should inspire us to fight with them. Their fight should prove to us that there is a way, and that it is not a pleasant way or a convenient way, but that it must happen for our own survival. Their fight is our fight. And they’ve been fighting for all of us much harder than we’ve been fighting for us.
The final realization that will continue to fuel my fire is:
5. We have become entirely too dependent on safety and certainty. As a society— and I’m primarily talking about white people— our own fear of discomfort and uncertainty and inconvenience is the only thing in the way of universal freedom. Nothing will get better for EVERYONE until we accept that we are not entitled to comfort and convenience and safety. We have so much more power than we think when it comes to ‘sticking it to the man’ and disrupting the power structures in play, but we must be willing to do hard things.
That might mean no more Amazon Prime 2 day shipping. No DoorDash 30 minute food delivery. No toilet paper or air conditioning or doggy poop bags or Trader Joe's frozen orange chicken.
All this to say I think I’ll be logging off for longer than I planned, and hopefully forever. Expect more letters and phone calls and visits from me, this social media shit really is for the birds.
So, respectfully and with love, log off & remember what it means to be a human again
For further education & action, I've put together a list of literature & things to do related to this topic:
Log Off: a podcast about the 'Log Off' movement + the website
Pierce County Council Meeting Calendar (show up and hold them accountable)
King Country Council Meeting Calendar (show up and hold them accountable)
Real Rent Duwamish: monthly donation program to support the tribe's people whose land we live on
Mother Country Radicals: a podcast about radical activism from the civil rights days
Envisioning Crazy Horse's Prophecy Coming True: an article about the 7th Generation Prophecy
Stand with the Duwamish: a list of ways to support their desire to be legally recognized
 | A guest post by
|