"Antisocial Noise The Dark Under Belly of Social Media"

  There has been alot of talk on the twitters and the bloggers recently about social media being "antisocial". I have seen, felt and partook in some way the dark side that social media can create. It is to be expected it is for the most part uncensored, public and people are behind a digital wall, so it becomes easier to fall prey to being not so nice.

 There always will be conflict between humans, as not everyone will like everyone. We have different value systems, hobbies, lifestyles and yes emotional baggage, that we carry with us everywhere, it makes us who we are. For alot of people in social media be it bloggers or tweeps the only things we have in common is we use social media and we like people to hear what we have to say and that is it. Expecting relationships or friendships based on these thin bonds is just plain dumb. So we seek out others like us, things we share voices that sound familiar and safe. The only problem is as humans we are not designed to communicate in 140 characters or less, nor on mostly one sided dialog of blogs. This leads to misinterpretation, hurt feelings and judgments prior to investigation through real human contact.

 Another aspect of the Antisocial Noise of social media is the so called celebrity factor and ego infrastructure. It is rampant and infectious and threatens to bring down the open access aspect that makes social media such a great tool. We have a hierarchy that is set in place that some are better than others because of the number of followers or clicks on a blog. This is crap because some of the most talented, actors, writers, musicians are the ones almost know about and the so called "A" list personalities are pure poop it is that simple.  We are bombarded with noise from self proclaimed "Digital Celebs" who flog their crap like it is the words of God him or herself.

 Then there is the bulling, gossip, and digital despotism of social media. This dangerous and damaging behavior is epidemic online. The folks who follow you yet message gossip behind your back. Yes we all gossip to some degree we are human after all. What I am talking about is the mean, from a dark damaged soul kinda gossip meant to divide and destroy. This interaction serves only one purpose to build up someone who is so empty inside that no one else is allowed to be happy. Bullies who use access to events or activities to control and create loyalty is also a common theme online.

 Never before has there been a form of communications media that has allowed basically anyone to have a widely heard voice, and it is in it's terrible twos of communication life, allowing for this slash and burn social landscape.

 What to do? Well it is simple and hard, disconnect from bullies, divas, hateful gossip mongers. Do not get star struck by twitter and blogger celebrities. Find people who you would like if you met them in the real world. Watch your noise, and just plain be nice. Also remember just because someone has a computer, i-phone, blog and camera does not mean they are nice people who will offer you anything without strings attached.

 Are there good people, yes lots more nice genuine folks than not. I personally have met and become friends with some amazing people through social media. People who have changed my life for the better. I have also been burned, by the nasty, witnessed the shallow and agenda filled social climbers. they are the exception but the noise the spew tends to be louder than the rest.

Here are some tips for weeding out the anti-social in your digital stream;

1. Unfollow: As easy as it sounds people have problems with this when we base how much we are liked on our follower count. How many people are on your feed that you do not give a shit about really?
2. Follow: seek out people you do like encourage people you know to join in to social media so they can have a online voice.
3. Call Out Bullies: Do not be afraid they cant really hurt you, so call them out. The one thing a bully cannot  take is being bullied back.
4. Have Fun: This should be fun not stressful, if you are getting stressed by your digital life, turn the damn computer off.
5. Do Not Get Sucked In: I have been sucked in myself, so when you think you are being sucked into a online social situation you are not comfortable with disconnect, take a step back and see the whole picture.

Social Media can be an amazing place for everyone if we allow it to be. So go out play nice and for gods sakes no more LOL Cats

NaBloPoMo Day 10 "You have Cancer...Now What?"

Last week I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma, and after years of wanton sun worship and growing up when no one knew of skin cancer we all lathered our bodies up with baby oil on the beach. There were even oils with crystallized crap in them to amplify the sun for a deeper tan. No days that is crazy talk in line with Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck.

 After I found out my mind went thru it's usually line of thought, from why me?, to time for bucket list. After I settled in with my turn of fate the toughts have normalized into "what should I do with the dead hookers in my closet".. No No i joke..... But I have thought about what I should be doing with my life in the near future and here is what I came up with so far;

A) I will continue to work. I love my job so I will work flex time ,some office ,some home on my boat / refuge.. I will video conference wearing nothing but a tie & shirt no pants.

B) I will get to know some new people outside of my job. I do not have many friends outside of work. It is like a living on the small inbreed island of Pitcarn ( that is where the Bounty descendants live) . So I intend to get to know some of the people I have met on twitter, like, Monica, Kimli, Gus Greeper and her husband, Emme Rogers and the like.

C) I will help Gus Greeper aka Corinna Carlson get her Bali Charity off the ground. I love that part of the world and I feel my connections, and inventiveness could be an asset to her in her cause.

D) I love Public Art...always have, i feel it is a wonderful way for people of all walks of life to experience art in their own way. So I plan on putting together a photo project of all of the public art in Vancouver and creating a website so anyone including schools can find our cities public art.

E) I will buy a new camera and get back into Photography. My late wife was a professional photographer and always amazed me with her talent and humanity in he work. I always loved to take pictures and wanted to get more serious about it now I will.

F) Reconnection with old friends... It is time to re connect with people i loved in my life. Now that I may not have a long lifetime to do this I plan a"Moose Tour" so that I can get as many of my old friends as drunk as I can.

G) Easy part! I will strive to be nicer, more open and better member of my community. To be a participant in life and not just an observer / consumer of it.

That is it for now, I hope you all choose to follow me in my new journey of self exploration, and maybe just maybe be inspired by it.

VIVA LA BADGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 4 NaBloMo "Why I Love Social Media"

 I hear from alot of my friends, "Steve why do you love Twitter, Blogs & Facebook so Much?"
I have thought alot about it. I have been an internet geek for a while my first browser was mosaic and I remember when internet media high tech were animated gifs. I never lost interest in the net and it still holds me captive by it's ability to allow people to share their pain, joy, humor, craziness and stupidity.
 Once we trolled chat rooms asking A/S/L and flavicons. Alot of us suffered the horrors what was AOL and could tell how fast our connection would be by the sounds our modem made when we connected.

 Now it the number one place for news, shopping naked, booking vacations. and porn of staggering varieties. But the changing force to me has been both twitter and facebook. Social media allows us to bypass the cacophony of noise we do not want to hear and allows us to connect with people who we want to listen to. It brings people together, lets us know we are not alone in our own thoughts.
  Recently I have discovered how true this is, as this week I discovered that I have cancer. I announced it to the world on Twitter and Facebook. I was blown away by the support of people who have never met me yet took the time to offer support. People who also share the good things of social media as place to find people who think like you. I have virtually met some amazing people. like Monica Hamburg who shares my inerests in the weirder side of the web, or Beth Snow who i learned is a DR, plays hockey, names her material items. Or Kimli who loves games, has horrible people who live below her and also names her material items. Or Gus Greeper a fellow lover of sock monkeys. I have thru blogs or twitter  virtually met some of the most interesting people i could imagine. I am grateful for these people in my online life they bring me smiles, laughter joy and encouragement. They redefine my love of people and belief that we can be kind unselfish and still stop to enjoy the little wackiness in the world. The internet is not  a lonely place. Or a place for lonely people It is a place for rich, dynamic people to share ideas and hopefully change the world. I know this is a ramble but i needed to post today for NaBloPo and i am on some serious painkillers........