There is something deeply traumatising about navigating online social spaces in moments of absolute political turmoil and instability. It’s so easy to watch the online social interactions of our friends and peers and come to conclusions. What they like on these social online spaces and how they engage or rather how they fail to engage sometimes for many can be internalised as direct communication with us even when they aren’t actually speaking directly to us. I suppose it can be compared to when people use pronouns such as “they” and “them” and say “but not you though”. We can’t help but internalise it as an attack or stance that includes us individually. It is language that naturally groups, after all.
This polarising behaviour has been brutal in online spaces over the past month particularly, and it’s easy to think it just happens on the internet because it’s hard to have all your Facebook friends in one space at the same time or random strangers airing their opinions at you in public but really and truly this behaviour has been with us all time. It is just now amplified because the internet is the easiest meeting point for us all. Location, time differences, and phone credit are no longer barriers hindering how, who and when we can reach people. Even language barriers have been removed, thanks to the quick click on the translation button.
If anything, the internet gives us a sense of freedom from physical intimidation and especially when one is miles apart from who one is actually talking to. It affords us, as well, the possibility of creating fake accounts when we are scared of a backlash; there is today what many would describe as a new breed of keyboard warriors.
This past week, I was in conversation with an older friend who was speaking about the border controversy and refugees. I listened carefully as my friend both expressed fear and used the same language that seeks to group, making it easier for stereotypes to be formed. In actual one and one conversation, I always find it easier to deal with these suspicions as compared to online spaces perhaps maybe because for both parties the conversation happens in a private capacity and the reasoning is coming from a place of love and friendship
We are often given so many rules on what we should or shouldn’t say online and the pros of using emojis to help soften the comments. The real online etiquette, in my opinion, is shaped by offline interactions and, if anything, amplifies the ways in which we fail or struggle to have our points heard. The only rules that we should try to follow across the board online are the same ones we always seem to employ with our friends and family in the most sincere of ways. Online social spaces can make us feel void of humanness, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t try to prove that humanness to ourselves and those who we come into contact with regardless of the means.
