Every generation of parents has something they can warn their kids about, which they claim will limit their opportunities in the future. People were once warned that visible tattoos would limit the jobs they could get, but now that everyone and their dog has a tattoo the stigma behind getting one is fading from memory. But now, we’ve got a new warning for the parents of the world, they have to warn their children about the dangers of saying stupid things on social media.
Look at the provincial election, where the NDP has already been forced to drop four candidates thanks to posts from the past. The recent federal election also had bad social media moves kicking candidates out of different parties. Ranting and raving within the confines of Facebook and Twitter has caused people to lose their jobs before, and will long into the future.
In some ways, tattoos and social media do have some things in common. Both are permanent, you’re going to have a great deal of difficulty getting rid of a bad tattoo, and getting rid of a bad social media post is arguably even harder, since you don’t know who has evidence of its existence archived. When done properly, a good tattoo will make you look better, make you happier, make a statement to the world that you want to make and want people to notice. Same deal with a social media post, a good one is also a statement to the world, one that sometimes can get a bunch of friends and strangers to like you and find you more interesting. In the same way, a bad tattoo will make you look stupid, a bad social media post does exactly the same thing. The difference is that you have a tattoo artist who acts as an intermediary, someone who might tell you when the tattoo you’re considering might be a bad idea, or in a bad place, or tell you that you’re too drunk to make this decision and maybe should cool off until you’re sober. The number of bad tattoos out there suggests not every artist does this job effectively, but it’s rare to see a great artist give a tattoo someone regrets later. Social media, by contrast, has nobody there to make sure you’re certain.
The ease of social media is arguably the reason why it’s so dangerous for the prospective careers of our future politicians. The space between thought and post is seconds, and now people are usually always within arm’s length of a device that they can use to spread their thoughts to the world. Nobody has any incentive to stop that either, a brief delay programmed in for sober second thoughts could potentially get rid of a lot of posts made in anger, but when part of the appeal of a service is instant communication it’s never going to be implemented.
The easiest rule of thumb is to follow the old Bambi rule that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything, but it’s rare to see anyone follow that, and I’ll admit to making posts in anger. Sure, my frustration with billing with certain crown corporations or people in beige trucks who somehow don’t notice bright red hatchbacks aren’t exactly positive posts, but they’re also not something that could lead to the end of a career. Of course, who knows what is in my history that could be taken out of context.
The thing is that with social media it’s more likely people will say something stupid because it’s easy, and there’s nobody else there. In reality, being surrounded by people gives you the advantage of social cues to tell you when you’re saying something that others might not find appropriate, while you don’t get that on social media until the comment is out in the wild, garnering disapproval. It’s just a faceless piece of glass used to project thoughts into the wild without thought of reprisal or any indication that you might be doing something stupid. And it’s there permanently, rather than a statement that dissolves into the wind as the people who were present slowly forget it.
The important thing is this isn’t going away any time soon. Social media is ubiquitous, as is saying dumb things on it. Even as the layers of anonymity get stripped away and it becomes an increasingly large part of the public record, people still treat social media as something that is somewhat private and quickly forgotten. People aren’t used to the idea that everything they say on it is archived and easy to see, even by people they don’t know and might not particularly like them. Given the amount of political candidates getting the dregs of their Facebook and Twitter accounts getting brought up from years past, it’s clear that people have not quite adjusted to the idea that it’s possible to find all the things they’ve said and put them under scrutiny.
Even if everyone says something they regret on social media, it’s still something that can be used against them in the future. The lesson is to treat social media posts like tattoos, only do it if you’re certain that it’s something you want on you forever, and never do it drunk.
