Five Rules For Surviving Social Media in 2018

As someone who is regularly engaged with social media—across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and now LinkedIn (this is my first post here as an “influencer”)—I have gained some insight and, dare I say it, wisdom in dealing with the downsides of the Internet. In fact, trolls regularly patrol and pollute my comment threads, goading and baiting and attempting generally to cause mayhem. At the same time, political conservatives, who are not technically trolling, regularly post misinformation, no doubt fished out of some sad barrel at Fox News or InfoWars. It amounts to much the same.

I’m often asked for advice on how to deal with the onslaught of ad hominem attacks and fake news, and even fake accounts, run by Russian troll farms. I’ve begun to assemble a few of these into digestible morsels, if you will. So with your indulgence, hear this octogenarian out.

1. Don’t get pulled into their chaos. Pull them into your calm.  I saw something like this on a meme once, and while I’m not normally partial to inspirational messages written in azure skies over sandy beaches, this one rings true. The objective of a troll is to kick up dirt, to muddy the waters. They win not by force of their persuasive points or facts, but by how much their irrational and often inane points ruffle your feathers. So stay calm, respond with cool deliberation, and breathe deeply. You’ll find there won’t be enough oxygen left for anyone to start a conflagration.
2. Meet ignorance with compassion.  This is a tough one. As a Buddhist, I am committed to diminishing suffering of all kind. And the ignorant suffer mightily, in ways they don’t even understand. It is as though they can only see gray in a vibrant world. They are unaware of the deep and meaningful connections they miss out on. But remember: Behind every ignorant statement is someone else who benefits from that ignorance. Without compassion, the ignorant will forever be left in that state, for who will be there to guide them out of it?
3. Be the funnier person. Humor is a great unifier, and though I have been known to make a joke at a troll’s expense, it is always meant in good fun, not to harm. One time, for no apparent reason, I was told by an angry young person, “George Takei, you suck!” Well, I could have been offended. But I elected not to be. “And well, I’m told!” was my only reply. And that was pretty much the end of that conversation.
4. Bots are everywhere, but soon it won’t matter.  Much has been made of the fact that bots deployed by Russia regularly amplify negative messages and create division on social media for the purpose of destabilizing our social bonds. Recently it even came to light that over 50 percent of the haters of “Return of the Jedi” were actually bots. They apparently just want us to be angry, about literally anything. But in ten to twenty years, most of us are going to be part-bot anyway. Most of us will have machines augmenting our brains and sensory functions. I sure could use that assist. So we’d better get used to automated trolling and hate. It is how people themselves will troll not long from now.
5. Know your algorithms. On a platform like Facebook, it has long been the case that the most emotionally manipulative and exploitative post gets the biggest traction, much like the thirstiest trap on Instagram gets the most likes. It is critical to keep perspective, because that is not how the real world actually operates. If someone said aloud the very thing that has 100 reactions on Facebook, they might be seen as a crazy person and avoided altogether. Yet there it is, top of the feed. It is important to develop an awareness that the presentation of commentary is artificial, inflated in a way that isn’t necessarily helpful or wanted. Begin with that awareness, and it begins to lose its power to annoy or confuse you.

I’ll have more to say on these matters over time. But these five tips might be a good starting point to push back from on social media. If you’d like to share this, please do! But be sure to throw lots of emojis into the caption. I hear that tends to cause more people to click and react.