Mic check 1,2,..1,2? Is this thing on? I know, that was pretty lame, but at least now I have your attention. Is it just me or is social media REALLY stressful sometimes? It’s fake stressful…like I don’t carry these things into my REAL LIFE, but still stressful nonetheless– right? If you agree that this social media thing is fake stressful you’ll probably also agree to the three social media habits I’m labeling as, “Must Stop Nows.”
1. Making Moves in Silence…Loud as Heck: Killers, hustlers, ants, Beyonce– just a few that come to mind when I think of the phrase, “making moves in silence.” The phrase is one that has been used over and over in our favorite songs and best friend’s facebook statuses, to promote the execution of business and life plans privately.
It’s one that reminds people to do the work in private and one day they will be openly rewarded. The Bible, Matthew 6:4, says, “so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you,” and In 2010, Lil Wayne eloquently reminded us that “real g’s move in silence like lasagna.” Somehow, even with all these fine examples and inspirations to keep quiet on these things, it’s become popular to do that opposite.
Ok, I know “somehow,” was a really weak elephant in the room– we know how. Social Media. Social Media has made it really hard for people to resist telling everyone else what they’ve got going on. Twitter asks you, “‘What’s Happening?’,” Facebook asks you, “‘What’s on your mind?’,” and Instagram is telling you the image is not enough, “‘Write a caption…’” While living in a FOMO based time it’s often hard to resist the temptation of letting it all out on the world wide web–but try.
There really are benefits to keeping some things for yourself. –Like the protection of the vision. Not everyone can see what you see and because of that, they speak from limited perception. By letting them into your world you allow them to project their fears and limited vision onto you and sometimes convince you to abandon it all together. More on this later in its own article, but the point for now: Stop with the loud silent moves.
2. Making Things a Thing That Aren’t a Thing: The past ten years have really given rise to the “conspiracy theory,” and I’m thinking now would be a great time to let that go. I understand that some things are REALLY hard to accept at face value, but alas…we must. Not everything is a distraction, not everything is the man holding us down, some things are just exactly what they are.
Let’s take the H&M controversy, for instance. H&M puts a black child on their website wearing a sweatshirt that reads, “The Coolest Monkey in the Jungle,” and the internet goes crazy. First, with their initial feelings of disgust (rightfully so) than with their theories as to what happened (wait, what?).
YES! People were saying the parents were unaware, the image was photoshopped, the pictures were snapped when no one was looking and more. I legit almost lost a friend overthis because I commented under the photoshop theory and said, “I’m not buying it.” I went on to talk about my history in model management, the laws surrounding minors in the industry, and how his mom was likely sitting in the room and didn’t care.
Basically, I put a note on my forehead that gave social media the OK to attack me for not buying into conspiracies that lasted for 24 hours until dun dun dunnnnnnnn the next day when the mom said, “I was sitting right there and you need to get over it.” That’s right people, no conspiracy theory here, keep it moving…
The story is STILL just as messed up as before (if not more), but I saved a lot of energy not trying to create, feed into, or making conspiracy theories work for what had happened.
3. Frivolously Calling for Boycotts: Over the weekend I received two calls for boycotts. One was against Netflix and the other against Walmart. I won’t get into the whole Netflix Mo’Nique battle here, but I do have thoughts on that. The Walmart boycott stemmed from a video of a woman walking down the hair care aisle of her local Walmart filming all of the black hair care products that were locked up in glass display boxes. Audibly disturbed by what she found she goes on to talk about how it’s unacceptable that only the Black products are locked up and she won’t be buying anything.
The caption to the video that hit my Facebook was “Pitiful. Don’t give them your money is all I can say.” and all I could think was ummm…I think that was the initial problem. The reason why things get locked away in glass boxes is not that they’re for a certain demographic, it’s because they’re being stolen. If I, Walmart, have a product for sale and am not making money from it because it keeps magically disappearing then I, Walmart, am going to do something different. Lock them up.
Boycotting started in 1880 when tenants decided toboycott Charles Boycott and his land for not adjusting rent prices to their needs. More than one person was affected by his decision making, and that group of oppressed people rose up against him. From there, we’ve gone on to see many historical boycotts make way for change including the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
For perspective, it makes sense to boycott riding the bus when the bus companies and employees are disrespecting an entire group of people based on the color of their skin, it does not, however, make sense to boycott a Walmart that has been robbed and took action against it.
I probably lost about 3 friends for each categorical rant that just took place here– that’s ok. The truth is, my friends and I have an even longer list of social offenses to get through…but spoon feedings and baby steps. =) Let’s start here guys and see if we can make social media a little less stressful for us all (or maybe just me).
Thank you <3
Bryana Holcomb is the Editor of BlackDoctor.org and graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Women’s Studies, an MBA in Management Strategy, and Life Coaching and Nutrition certifications.