Social Media Becomes You
Do certain personalities fair better in online social environments?
I am sure that the way people behave — or the amount of time they spend — on social media has something to do with personality type. Not only that, how a person interacts will gain them a certain type of follower, thereby;
attracting a social media tribe, by exhibiting a personal vibe.
Over the years, I have used social media platforms intermittently.
Facebook and Instagram
I had a Facebook account in my real name for a short while until people started tagging me in photos and members who knew me many moons ago came by and tried to claim me. My view was, if we hadn’t persisted with our friendship back in the day, what reasons could there be for returning to it now? So I closed the account.
I had a short dalliance with Instagram. Nothing untoward happened, but even though I have a technical background I didn’t quite understand the boundaries in the mobile app, so I stopped using it.
You could say my time with both Facebook and Instagram was short, and cautious. Which is very different from who I am — tall, and risky!
Out of all the social media platforms I have used Twitter the most. Right from the start I could see many advantages in the way it operates. Short, quick fire notes sent out into the worldwide web by a frenzied human race who have come to expect fast stimulation and reactions. Even though I am not really into reactive mediums, I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed some of my time on Twitter. At one point I was even part of a consumer panel involved with sharing ideas on how to improve the Twitter cogs. But as in life, many things turn sour.
Initially, it was an easy place to chat and share, without spending all day. But when it backfired on me, I began to consider, do certain personalities fair better in online social environments? Or perhaps a particular type of person will frequent such a place more than others.
Well, here is what I found.
Specifically, the researchers state that people with high levels of neuroticism, or the tendency to experience negative emotions such as stress and anxiety, were more likely to develop addiction to social media, compared with people who had low levels of neuroticism.
The Neuroscience link between Neuroticism and Social Media Addiction
Further…
Neuroticism is a personality trait involving a long-term tendency to be in a negative or anxious emotional state.
And my experience does appear to match the above. Although I will state now I have met many wonderful people via Twitter who are anything but neurotic.
Being a Twat on Twitter ~ My Story
There I was merrily going about my Twitter business. Being a carer and sharer within a blogging community. Shooting the breeze. But, perhaps I had unwittingly attracted the wrong tribe or had not been discerning enough regarding whom I followed. I’ve never been great at choosing people. Mainly because I am an introvert and like my own company, so I am fine with only having a small amount of friends. As a result, others often pick me, and not wanting to rock the boat, I just join in. Whatever the circumstance, I wasn’t quiet prepared for the situation that blew up just before the first UK lockdown.
The explosion and fall out occurred when I posted a tweet, using an apparently triggering quote from the story it was promoting, before a content warning(CW). A misdemeanour on my part which caused a couple of people to become somewhat stressed and anxious about what I’d done, very quickly. It really made me wonder how they managed to live a day-to-day existence without having a panic attack or rushing for the nearest safe-space. But I’m digressing.
I’ll add that I do understand everyone is different. Thank goodness we are individuals — given half the chance. So, I admitted I was in the wrong. Just because the quote seemed OK to my eyes I should not have assumed it would be for everyone. The CW would have been better placed at the start, not the middle. Though, surely most people can look at a small tweet and take in the whole narrative in one chunk? I know I can. Not to mention, once you clicked through, the actual story it was promoting had a massive CW right at the beginning. Big enough for an elephant to read. But I try to be a fair person and to take my share of responsibility, so I held my hands up, stating in an open apology that I had not been cautious enough with the tweet.
But the group began firing and could clearly smell blood…
Then, the treacherous tribes began signalling their virtuous vibes.
Letting the world know that your beliefs are worthy is a sure fire way for a small band of people to become larger. That’s exactly what happened. The few people who shouted out in tweets and replies about my negligence and how noble they were, became larger, with others joining to make sure they landed on the winning side. Until they were quite a little crowd. And some “silent leaders” just clicked the likes on the “loudmouths” tweets. It got very heavy, very fast and even I found myself flustered, and that does not happen often.
Why didn’t the two or three people it had bothered in the first place simply DM me? I would have deleted the tweet immediately and apologised. But no. They were looking for a witch! Two became four, became ten, became more…
Aftermath
I was judged, sentenced, chastised, blocked, muted and so on. As were those who stood in the same corner as me. A playground mentality emerged.
After that storm calmed slightly, another rose in its wake. Since then, I don’t use Twitter to socialise or shoot the breeze. The neurotic attention seekers can have their podium. However, I still think Twitter is an excellent platform to promote your work on and continue to do this by putting out daily tweets regarding my various projects and also celebrating the work of writers I admire.
The really shameful thing about what happened was that a few people I really liked within the blogging community stopped writing. The good thing: I did find my tribe — and many of us have diversified and are now here on Medium.
This article explores my own perceptions of social media. We all view situations differently. Personal experience taints attitudes and beliefs. This is one of the things that make us unique.
If you wish to investigate further into personality and social media use, then you may find this piece interesting.
More from May…
