Misunderstandings and Social Media

Nobody likes to be misunderstood. At least I've never met anyone who does. But in the world of social media, misunderstandings happen more often than in any other area of social contact. This is mainly due to the fact that when reading something, a person cannot hear the inflection or tone of the comment, and invariably they will misread the intent of the writer's heart. Emoticons were created to try and help people assess what mood the person writing is in.

I have had more than my share of individuals getting upset with me for some perceived infraction against them while writing or being a little playful online. I am amazed at how people misunderstand what in fact I am actually saying. Once I made a statement, really more of an observation about a person that came into my shoe store, and was lambasted for my comment, vilified and labeled as a horrible person because of it. However had the people that were slamming me actually heard me voice my statement instead of just reading it, they would have realized how I was being sarcastic and not just making fun of a person.

I think one of the main things to remember when using social media and reading comments that people write, is to give the writer the benefit of the doubt. Don't just jump to conclusions which may cause a rift between the two of you. After all again, I don't really believe that anyone sets out to be misunderstood. And Jesus teaches us that love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter4:8)

So what do we do to avoid this? I am a very opinionated person, always have been, and what I have learned that helps in this area the most is to choose my topics wisely. If you want to know what I believe, I'll tell you, and I've not always been the best at waiting for someone to ask me either, I am willing to share my point of view with anyone. Sometimes that is not the best thing to do, and can cause rifts between friends. (Which has actually happened to me.) So now I'm a little more cautious about what I actually write about.

I think the main thing to remember is that without being able to see a person's eyes or hear their voice, it is very possible to misread the content of the message. Just because a person writes something down may not actually mean that is where their heart is. As I have found many times, the person may actually just be quoting a line from a song. (Which is very confusing for this old man sometimes.)

If you think that someone is saying something that is derogatory or in poor taste, take your concern to them privately and work it out. More often than not, you will find out that they were just trying to be funny and it came out wrong. Or they may actually have no idea that they have offended you. The devil loves to use this type of stuff to cause or continue rifts between people. We shouldn't let that happen, we should be aware of his devices.

I love social media, it has brought more people into my life than I have ever had before, and those relationships that I have made are precious to me. I just have to remember that just because I hear inside my head what I am saying, and how I am saying it, this doesn't mean that the person reading what I wrote will. Let's use this tool to help us grow together and not apart. Get 'em up folks, we've got a Kingdom to enlarge...