You just spent an hour on Facebook, you saw pictures of homecomings, read about the misdoings of the politician you despise, shared a story about an injustice of a student. How do you feel? Your child isn’t going to homecoming, you’re upset about the politician and the injustice. Do you post your feelings? Are you perpetuating these thoughts by sharing the posts that bring outrage?
Social media is designed to capture your attention and can steer your thoughts and your timeline to retain that attention. Tristan Harris shares in his Ted Talk, we need to acknowledge that we are persuadable and use this knowledge to guard against ways we are persuaded. What if your timeline was book reviews you’d like to read, gardening tips, professional development, friends posting REAL thoughts and pictures?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt presented a TED Talk regarding capturing attention and what it means for the creative process.
Social media companies are in the attention getting business. They sell your attention to advertisers. They are in the business of knowing what your interests are and selling your attention to advertisers. Social media trains you to want attention, how many followers do you have, how many likes, retweets, comments did your last post receive? People get stressed when they don’t receive the attention they crave. Gordon-Levitt states, “If your creatively is driven by your desire to get attention, you’re never going to be creatively fulfilled.” What if you stopped craving the attention? instead of viewing other users as competition, work with them on a common purpose. Stop competing for attention, swallow your pride, and find like minded individuals on social media who share your passion.
Alexis Ohanian of Reddit shares the story of Mister Splashy Pants and his rise to fame from the Greenpeace Organization’s fight against the Japanese whaling trade.
Greeenpeace suggested several more serious options but the internet fell in love with Splashy. Ohanian says it’s ok to lose control when you are working towards the greater good. Greenpeace wasn’t thrilled with the way the voting went, so they extended the voting deadline. The result? Users increased their dedication to Mister Splashy Pants, created memes, profile pictures, and changed banner logos. In the end, Mister Splashy Pants was the winner however, Greenpeace also won by changing their prejudice against the lighthearted name, their message about Japanese whaling was heard, they realized it’s ok to not take yourself so seriously.
I encourage you to share other stories and TED Talks about how social media has impacted your pride and prejudice and has swayed your prejudice.
Resources:
TED. (2009, November). How to make a splash in social media | Alexis Ohanian . Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/alexis_ohanian_how_to_make_a_splash_in_social_media?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
TED. (2017, July 28). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day | Tristan Harris. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=478&v=C74amJRp730
TED. (2019, April). How craving attention makes you less creative | Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/joseph_gordon_levitt_how_craving_attention_makes_you_less_creative?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare