A FRIEND made a comment on Facebook about how some of those who were on his list would click the ‘Like’ button even if his post resonated sadness, or had nothing whatsoever to do with these particular persons.
He was somewhat upset that instead of using words to properly express how they felt about the post, they conveniently used the ‘Like’ button. He questioned whether it would have been so hard to type or key in words.
Has society relegated itself to icons on a screen? Whatever happened to the art of writing and expressing oneself through words?
To add salt to the injury, social media users recently became excited at the possibility of Facebook adding a ‘Dislike’ button. The majority felt that it was about time, so that people could indicate that they did not like certain postings or photos.
However, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg poured cold water over the anticipation when he said that a ‘Dislike’ button was out of the question as it was “not good for the community”.
He, however, did not deny that the social network was always looking for new ways to allow users to express emotions or add sentiments.
The wise beyond his 30 years social media guru also explained that there should be other alternatives to allowing people to express more emotions on social media, other than a ‘Dislike’ button, which could trigger an unwanted chain of events like cyber-bullying and hatred.
There is already enough cyber-bullying and hatred spread across the Internet as it is.
Instead, the team at Facebook is studying the possibility of a ‘Sympathise’ button, especially in cases where users post devastating news about their families or society.
The ‘Like’ button that we have today, in case some did not know, was introduced back in 2009. Since then, the famous blue thumbs-up icon has seen its share of abuse and also psychological effects.
Let us first look at the psychological effects of the ‘Like’ button and how it has affected some social media users.
Tech analysts and psychologists alike have observed how one little blue thumbs-up icon could result in anxiety and depression.
Seriously.
For those of us who still interact face-to-face and verbally in the real world, these things would not matter. We can always mention to our friends when we see them that we saw their post and eventually turn it into a conversation topic.
Unfortunately, for many who live their lives online, not getting ‘Likes’ for their posts result in anxiety – one over why people do not like what they posted; depression from thinking that no one pays attention to them.
The real problem now lies in the fact that many of the younger generation build their lives online. Gone are the days when we used to meet at the end of the street or in the middle of the kampung to play skipping rope, marbles or kick a football around.
We have those in the younger generation growing up insecure and rather dependent on what happens online.
In the case of the thumbs-up being abused, things could get a little hazy sometimes on social media and ‘liking’ things with the little blue thumb could sometimes be inappropriate.
There are those who are what a friend calls ‘serial-likers’- they click the ‘Like’ button for everything.
It is as if they are glued to the screen and whatever post pops up, they click ‘Like’. It doesn’t matter if it is a post that concerns them; it doesn’t matter if it is a post about an atrocity taking place in another part of the world.
An announcement about someone who had passed on? They would still ‘Like’ it.
The point here is, many social media users – be they on Facebook, Twitter or even WhatsApp – have forgotten that they have always have the power to express themselves at their fingertips.
The power is called ‘words’ and it is a feature that is readily available both in the cyber world and outside. Whether you feel sad, happy or frustrated with a post or a photo, we all have words that we can use to express our emotions.
We only have to write them out. Some of us have probably even forgotten how to use those words.
Others, understandably, think that they are not able to express themselves well with words and fear that they may offend others when they choose the wrong ones to use.
The key is, however we communicate, it has to be meaningful. It has to be in words that show empathy and passion. We cannot relegate ourselves and our feelings to just mere little icons provided for us.
We have been blessed with the ability to use words and language. We do not have to write out long essays.
A word or two, or even three to express empathy or happiness means so much more than a ‘Like’.
Comments can reach the writer via [email protected].