On My Mind: A Filter on Our Feed

I recently posted this little rant on my personal Facebook page, and I got enough discussion I thought I’d turn it into a little post and hopefully reach more people and see if my one little voice can make a difference in the world in which we live….

Good morning friends! I rarely post negative things on here… a couple of vents here or there… But I have to speak out this morning about all the visuals that have been disturbing me so much. I’m noticing the media is sensationalizing SO many tragic deaths both here in the US from our cops to oversees tragedies… I know people have their phones videoing as all these things are taking place. I WISH there was someway or something we could do to PREVENT us from SEEING them or hearing them. I know I’m a grown woman, a big girl, but I still find them TERRIBLY disturbing, and I know we have the option to NOT push the play button. I just wish there was some RATING on these videos/recordings SOMETHING. Not only is it upsetting to me, but our kids can stumble upon them so very easily as well. And these are things coming from the news channels with their links… I don’t want to hide my friends from my feeds, but I’m just upset by all the violence and violent pictures coming thru my feed. PLEASE if you can refrain from sharing these videos, I personally thank you! Instead of sensationalizing all of these horrific things, let’s just spread positiveness and encouragement and hope and love. …. ok…. I had to get it off my chest. From one sensitive girl to the rest of my peeps. Carry on!

Before I begin, this is what this is all about for me:

* about the way information is shared

* the consequences of when it’s shared and how it messes with our brains

* there is no filters on what is said in headlines

* all the visuals that stay with us

* it’s all TMI

I’m aware that part if this bad stuff is the world in which we live and we can’t help it. And it is news. We can’t run and hide from it. Yes, we DO need to know what is going on. It’s to WHAT extent and WHEN and HOW it’s shared.

And I’m not talking about the natural disasters that are also so tragic, like tornadoes that we have in our home state. I’m talking about man born tragedies. Where people are hurt and killed, and we must learn about it and hear about it and sometimes SEE it, without WANTING to see it. Who wants to SEE a person being MURDERED? In REAL LIFE? Not a TV drama or movie with a rating on it… I’m talking things taken even with video surveillance, cell phones, or even sad 911 phone calls that the voices and visions remain in our heads once they’ve made their mark on us.

I saw a still shot image today someone had made of the journalist that had been so tragically decapitated this week with some writing on it… I’ll be honest with you, I don’t even remember what message the writing was saying, I just new I was MORTIFIED with the still shot right there right before the execution. I don’t think the person who posted this meant to do harm by any means, but I think things are SO sensationalized that people just SHARE as in LOOK AT WHAT’S GOING ON!… And I’m sayin… I kinda DON’T want to know. Sad. Sure, I can unfollow these people, but then I miss seeing their good posts.

I am very careful if and when I turn the news on here anymore, local or national, because grueling details of murders are revealed that leave that visual stamp in my brain and won’t go away. Not only that, my kids hear these same awful acts of inhumane things going on.

I know there will always be crazies and psychos and sickos in the world. What I’m sayin is can we MINIMIZE what we share on it and HOW? Did we ever think the more of this stuff we continue to share and put out there, the more it stimulates those crazy people?

Is there ANY way some kind of rating system can be put into media that is shared publicly? We do it for TV shows (which, unfortunately I think that doesn’t work that good), we do it for movies, why can’t there be some system that filters WHAT is said even on a headline? I recently READ (didn’t see) the headline from a TV station about a grandma that did something horrific to her grandson. No videos. Just the title. REALLY? Did I NEED to know that?

I am not trying to point fingers at anyone or any station. I think it’s our society as a whole. And the fact that things seem to be getting worse and worse with all the social media that we have because it’s all “freedom of speech”. To what extent? How can that be measured and monitored? Maybe all of this exposure is setting us up for our own demise. Depression, anxiety, negativity, sadness.

And I’m not saying life’s full of rainbows and unicorns either. It’s just about what we see, how we see it, how much we see of it, and how to protect our younger people from being exposed to all the bad stuff out there. I think maybe I don’t remember all of this being an issue growing up because we didn’t have cell phones or internet. Sad that all of our technology that has been such a help to our world can also be the same demise.

Feel free to post and share whatever you’d like on your social media feeds… but I just want to plant a seed of a thought to you….

What if you just stopped to THINK first about what it is you’re about to click on to view or share and ask yourselves this ONE question:

What will my friends benefit from by seeing this?