Social Media's "Atomic Age"

Yes, I recognize the irony of posting this blog on social media, but that's kind of my point. Who am I to present a credibly researched opinion that could possibly sway the opinion of a reader?

I'm a nobody!

I'm an entrepreneur and a conference guy and while I never intentionally mislead my clients or readers with data points, I don't use a "two source authentication" method and the "facts" I pull are based merely on internet searches, so who knows if those are really real as well?

In watching PBS' "Facebook and 'The Data Dilemma'" the only conclusion I was able to reach is that social media on the whole is quite a terrible thing. Forget the legitimate trove of statistics correlating social media use with depression and other mental health issues, because there just isn't enough time to write about or read it, but think about how easily all of us have been manipulated over the years not only by Russian trolls and bad actors, but also bad friends and family.

How many topics are "off limits" at the dinner table because of social media fights and flames that have enveloped our anger? Ironically, one of the solutions I think is most desperately needed is the ability to actually talk through our differences of opinions at the dinner table, but don't tell that to Uncle "Lock Her Up" Larry and Aunt "Tangerine Mussolini" Terry.

I was listening to a morning talk show in NYC recently and there was a guest who, commenting on the escalating levels of hate "on both sides", said that social media has made it possible - and easy - for any opinion, fact or rumor to be spread around the world in hours, if not minutes. He couldn't be more right.

Any yahoo with the ability to influence followers, buy followers or create "noise" can use their opinion, legitimate or not, to move communities, cultures and governments. Anyone!

You have desperate "stars" on the left and right that have that coveted blue checkmark on Twitter who will purposely tweet incendiary messages just to stay relevant and due the pace of information sharing, it can have immediate impacts at the dinner table, break room, office, temple, church or playground.

While Facebook continues to suck the humanity and privacy out of its users, it enables, at best, the casual influence of opinions from unprofessional sources. You're conservative? Watch FoxNews and trust their facts. Liberal? Watch MSNBC and trust their facts.

Don't blindly trust a Twitter handle or a Facebook user because it posts what you WANT to hear.

I suffer from occasional insomnia and last evening at 1 in the morning I was trying to derive a correlation between social media and another "technology" that showed so much promise when invented, had several good use cases, but created more problems than it solved and as the clock struck 4, it hit me.

As he witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945, a piece of Hindu scripture ran through the mind of Robert Oppenheimer: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”

I believe social media is like atomic energy. Let me explain.

According to the World Nuclear Association (I hope), "Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist". Early uses of radiation included:

• Radium was later used in medical treatment
• In 1898 Samuel Prescott showed that radiation destroyed bacteria in food.
• Fission could unleash limitless (and sometimes termed "clean") energy

Today, radiation is used in all sorts of healthcare treatments, cancer of course being the most frequent but also used in cardiology, etc. Nuclear energy does not produce any "greenhouse" emissions so for some time it was the energy of choice.

To chronicle the adverse side effects of atomic energy would probably take as long as chronicling my issues with Facebook, but it goes without saying that the dawn of the atomic age has led to many intended and unintended negative side effects. If you lived through the 50s and 60s (which I did not), you know all too well the long-standing impact of duck and cover and the Cuban Missile Crisis. For those a little younger, you came of age in a world where a post-nuclear apocalyptic life wasn't that foreign of a concept.

Today we worry about North Korea, Iran, dirty bombs and more.

Only time will eventually determine if the dawn of the atomic age witnessed more positive than negative, though as of 2018 I think the scales are clearly tipped in the balance of the unfavorable.

Decades have been spent trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube when it comes to nuclear weapons and while treaties and diplomacy must be commended (and encouraged), we all know that the toothpaste will NEVER, EVER go back in. But it doesn't mean we can't try (one would hope).

I think the same can be said for social media. We've seen it connect people, empower citizens, rekindle friendships and more - but we've also witnessed its destructive force first-hand and yet still remain easily influenced and manipulated by the technology. We are a lot like the those duck and cover cartoons where the turtle hides to "survive" the blast and everything seems ok afterwards. We try to "hide" from the dangers of social media but meanwhile the fallout continues to spread, literally and figuratively.

Social media needs its "atomic age" self correction moment and while we're not there yet, we might be inching closer. Regulations, treaties, awareness and personal responsibility are all part of the solution.

But don't take my word for it, I'm not a journalist, I don't have a blue Twitter checkmark, this blog is probably filled with typos and poor grammar as I've been up since 1 and I don't have millions of followers - but come to think of it, isn't that the benchmark of credibility these days?