Skip to main content

Things That Make You Go HMMMMMMM - - - - #32

Social media, such a powerful tool.  Or is it a weapon?  Or is it a scam?  Or is it a platform?  Whatever it is, it is certainly powerful.

I am on several social media sites.  I have my blog.  I have a Facebook account.  And I have others.  It's the way of the world.  There are not many people out there that do not have a social media link - including my husband who absolutely refused!!  I won't reveal what he has.

Today, I was struck by the epiphany of the power of social media.  Whether you agree or disagree, social media sends things along a technical superhighway and people can say or do almost anything that can be truth among some and fallacy among others.  The facts may or may not matter in certain stories!  Today, the Supreme Court made a decision.  Now, whether or not you agree or disagree with it, it's a major decision for our country.  As this decision was sent down, I get the usual stuff in my Facebook feed, "-----liked this" or "-----commented on this".  I have friends that lean very left.  I have friends that lean very right.  The interesting thing is - the spin things take in both directions. A right friend will like something that says one thing.  A left friend will like something that says the complete opposite.  The supposed facts are crazy.  It's almost like one person can say something and post something and it becomes the truth because they said or posted it.  My head spins from it.

And it doesn't have to be about anything as specific as today.  And I'm not immune from falling for something.  Just a few days ago, someone posted something about a roller coaster at Islands of Adventure failing and 24 people falling to their deaths because it stopped upside down.  I totally freaked out, because I was heading to that very location the next day;  along with very special cargo - my daughter and two of my grandchildren.  My son was very quick to check it out and show me that it was not true.  That someone had made a scam report up and posted it.  We all fall for it. 

But, think about it.  Though probably none of us remembers the story, back in 1938 Orson Welles took to the radio waves and made a "simulated newcast" of an alien invasion happening in New Jersey.  It was a story.  It was an adaptation of "The War of the Worlds" book.  This was the day before Halloween.  Mass panic hit the country.  It took months for the outcry and the scandal to die down from that story.  

So, over the past year there have been several stories that have run rampant, truths and lies on both sides, that have enveloped our world.  Racial tensions are high because of the power of the internet.  Anti-police sentiments are out of control.  Political drama is insane.  And a lot of this is pushed by the power of social media.  

My question is this, are we better off now having social media?  Again, I'm just as bad as everyone else.  I would be lost without my technical gadgets.  Ted has taken photos of  me with my laptop in my lap, my IPad to the side of me, my phone in my hand and I'm sitting in front of the television.  Shouldn't I be outside playing or something?  I shouldn't be in Orlando, Florida looking to see what is going on through Facebook while I'm waiting in line to get on a ride or to see a show, I should be having special time with special people.  But, it just doesn't happen.  

Four years ago, I hated looking at Facebook.  The presidential race was just heating up and my left friends were posting one way.  My right friends were posting another way.  It becomes exhausting at times seeing that in your feed.  I may have to go dig a hole and bury myself until mid-November 2016.  

...................................or maybe I'll just go play outside.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CoCo's Journey - Mortality Reality

This week has been one for the books.  There has been some good things, not so good things and more.  I will explain. Last Saturday, my daughter and I drove to Idaho Falls.  We went to visit my bonus daughter and her family.  I wasn't feeling great.  But I wasn't feeling horrible.  By the time I got home, I had a lot of swelling.  I have been dealing with that for a few months.  I had started to see a specialist about my liver and my pancreas.  I had recently started a medication, it is a very pricey medication, but it's supposed to help me break down calories and nutrients so that my body absorbs them.  Even though I eat, my body was just shedding the nutrients and food I was eating and making it so I was not gaining weight.  I was 95 pounds.  And nothing I did would gain weight.  But I've gained 20 pounds over the last few months.  My clothes were uncomfortable.  But, I don't know if it's just the water retenti...

CoCo's Journey - TPN Me!!

 I just decided to do another post after spending my first night in my own bed with my new sexy bed partner.  TPN. TPN - Total Parenteral Nutrition.  Calories, vitamins, minerals and all that delivered through an intravenous line. PICC line -  A little stronger and more durable than a regular IV line.  It's inserted, via ultrasound, into a vein.  Mine is in my upper right arm.   IV Pump - an electrical system that pumps the IV fluid from my bag into my veins.   In essence, I have an IV bag, when first attached to my PICC line, it probably weighs 15 to 20 pounds.  It is kept in a backpack, so I can be mobile.  I have the pump plugged in, to keep it charged, when I'm not mobile and trying to get my home back in order after being gone for five days in the hospital. Me and my sexy new bed partner.  I know, I'm gorgeous.  Skinnier than a prepubescent 12-year-old boy and a mess.  Don't judge.  I'm working on it!! ...

CoCo's Journey - Answers!! Finally!!!

 Today I finally got answers!!!  I do not have Cirrhosis!!!  I am Pre-Cirrhotic.  Very close to that precipice but still not falling over the edge and falling into a place that I cannot get out of.  I had seen my gastric bypass doctor a while ago - and was given the wrong information.  I think he was looking at the headline and had not read the story.  It's something I'm good at, too.   My doctor explained that when I was overweight, the fat in my body was damaging my liver.  Then I had gastric bypass and that should have helped my fatty liver.  But, then I wasn't able to absorb the calories, so I became malnourished. My liver was not getting the proteins I needed in order to supply my body with the proper nourishment.  Every organ you have needs protein, and it starts in the liver.  So - the malnourishment started to affect my liver.  Leading to the state I'm in now. The thing I need to work on is getting off the diu...