A New Year's request to my friends on social media

We've got a brand new year coming up.  An artificial boundary to prompt us to review, reevaluate, renew to be a better version of ourselves.

One of the items on my review list is my social media presence.  I'm going to look back over my posts on Facebook, Twitter, and this blog, and evaluate the content of my contributions.  

I'm going to use the THINK acronym as I read:

http://www.technologyrocksseriously.com/2014/10/before-you-post-think.html#.XBuKeFVKjcs

Some of the questions I will ask myself:

• Did I check the source of any information I shared before posting?  Was it reliable and trustworthy?  Or did it just cater to my own beliefs and opinions?
• Are my posts helpful, inspiring, and kind?  Am I spurring thoughtful conversations, or just fanning the flames of an irrelevant issue?
• Is the kind of world I want reflected in the posts I write and share?
• Do I "like" posts that fit the THINK acronym? 

I respect the opinions of my friends, family, and colleagues, but I'll be honest--if I see someone rapidly sharing memes and posts from nondescript, unverifiable sources, then I'm just as rapidly scrolling through.  If those sources are extremist (on either end of the spectrum), then I'm scrolling through those as well.  

And about that sharing...

There have been several articles from reliable sources regarding Russia's use of social media to influence politics in the United States and abroad.  Those who seek to disrupt democratic processes may be responsible for flooding social media with "fake news" and incendiary posts, but guess who's responsible for spreading such inaccuracies--we, the users of social media, are to blame for spreading those fires.

So this year, I'm going to try to do more reading and THINKing.  I'm going to be even more careful of the posts I share.  I'm going to try and comment on the ones I do share, so that my friends and colleagues are aware of MY thoughts and opinions, not just some unknown meme creator's whims.

I'm going to do my part to make the internet a kinder, more reliable place for my friends, family, and colleagues to meet and share and discuss.  This does not mean that I'm planning on avoiding tough topics--it just means that when I do so, I will do better at making sure the information comes from reliable sources, and that my posts are there to spark conversation, not fires.  I will ignore trolls, because there's a chance they are not who they claim to be as, and not truly reflective of my community.  I will believe my own eyes and experience, and listen to the experience of my friends, family, and colleagues to help guide my beliefs and opinions.

In short, I will do my best to think for myself.  And I ask my friends on social media to do the same.