I took a modified social media fast during September. I set timers on my apps. I switched off notifications. I stopped clicking links or debating anything from politics to “Pumpkin: yay or nay?”
My brother asked me a “Did you know” question last week and I thought, “Actually, I don’t know the answer to that. I haven’t clicked anything in nearly a month that would give me that information. I am uninformed but happy!”
I am uninformed. That is probably the worst thing you could admit publically right now.
Uninformed. The enemy of reason. Uninformed. The opposite of right. Uninformed. The problem all of everything is bent on solving whether we want it solved or not. Except….what are we being informed about? Who are we being informed by? And what is the cost of the information?
I will tell you what I think the cost is. The cost is BASIC. HUMAN. DECENCY.
I got back online October 1st to read about a celebrities loss of a child, and then read mocking comments about the abortion debate. On October 2nd I got up to read my friends, people I love and respect posting laughter and death wishes to the president. And I wondered, was it always like this? Did it get worse over the course of September?
Have you watched “The Social Dilemma?” You know how algorithms are making us more polarized and more angry and more willing to say and do radical and unfeeling things? You know how the algorithm silos us into like-minded pods where we only hear things we like and posts from similarly thinking people about topics we agree with? Well, it’s working, for sure.
I have been engaging in discussions about tech ethics and whether or not we should even be on social media at all if it is this big of a problem. Yesterday, my mentor gave me some great advice about just using it for a directed purpose and then getting off of it.
I got up this morning, checked my feed, prayed over what I saw, ate a donut and had an idea. I am going to spend October doing a “basic human decency project,” and I need your help! It is one thing to “flood Facebook with pictures of puppies!!!” or “flood Facebook with the last picture you took of a sunrise!” However, each of us posting 1 thing all at the same time doesn’t create a shift. What will create a shift will be ongoing posting, commenting, liking and sharing posts that highlight positive things, good things, things that say “I like basic human decency and I want to see more things that support basic human decency.”
So if you like basic human decency, here is what I’m asking from you.
FOR THE REST OF THE MONTH OF OCTOBER…
1. Post daily a picture or a kind thought or uplifting message. Make a concerted effort to not twist it
to support a political end, unless you are highlighting the basic human decency you see in
someone who represents the opposite end of the political spectrum from yourself.
2. Tag it #basichumandecency and #basichumandecencyproject
3. When you see other posts tagged the same way, like them and share them.
4. Invite other people to do the same.
It’s that easy.
I have heard that we are losing our social construct of common ground. If that is an area of weakness in our defenses, then lets stop and work on that together. Let’s take time to inform each other and the algorithm that we still want the same things.
Will you, please, join with me to bring back #basichumandecency?
Sarah Kinzer 