Don’t you just love Facebook groups? I’m a part of several of them. I join based on my interests and needs. For example, as a travel nurse, I’m part of a couple of travel nurse groups. And as a full-time RV Family, I’m part of a few RV groups. I’m even part of a group specifically for travel nurses who travel in RVs! These groups are great for answering questions, gaining information, and feeling a camaraderie among people with similar interests. I enjoy reading all the posts. No matter what kind of group you’re in, be it a Mommy group or people who love World of Warcraft, you’ll find you spend a good deal of social media time perusing these groups. Well, here’s a couple of things I’ve noticed.
- Most people only speak a negative encounter or complaint.
- The negative encounters or complaints are the ones that draw us in.
Maybe it’s just me, but as an anxious person when I am bombarded by negativity it affects me. In fact, the devil tries to use these instances to bring fear into my life. One day on Facebook and you’ll be convinced that your children are going to be targeted for sex trafficking in Walmart, you’ll get mugged if you go into a big city, and you’ll develop a debilitating illness from eating anything that’s non-organic. It’s like scrolling through campfire tales of urban legends, and you’re paranoid anytime someone flashes their headlights at you that a killer is in your backseat about to stab you to death. The only difference is a large part of the stories on social media are fact, not fiction, but just like watching the news, it seems like only the bad stories make the highlight reel. Negativity sells, so social media shares promote a sad story or scary encounter quicker than something lighthearted and [uplifting]. Human nature, I’m afraid.
But in this super-surge of bad, you’re left feeling disheartened. You can’t really help that. It ends up affecting how you live your life, and while there’s nothing wrong with being aware and cautious, I do have an issue with living in fear. Cause that’s not really living. The tendency of social media to mostly carry negative material can unintentionally cause you to be fearful, not just cautious.
