The One With a Sprinkling of Politics

Despite the idea that at its very core social media is meant to reflect an authentic view of our lives, it’s so incredibly important to remember that not everything we see is true.

I feel like maybe I should start by writing some form of disclaimer. At points in today’s post, I will be discussing topics that are political in nature. Obviously, it goes without saying that everything I’ve written is from my personal perspective. You do not have to agree with me (I’d actually welcome it if you didn’t, I love a debate), and the purpose of this post isn’t to try and persuade anyone to adopt my views. We’ve definitely been bombarded with a lot of political opinions this year, so if you would rather not read on then I completely understand. But as the homage to Friends shows in the title, I’m hoping to keep things light, bright and easy-going.

So that being said, writing this post feels like completely new and uncomfortable territory for me. But initially, I was uncomfortable at the thought of ever publishing my writing online, and look where we are now. I want this blog to truly reflect things that I’ve been thinking, and talking about in recent months. So, while the world really doesn’t need another twenty-something putting their two pence in about political and social issues, I still really wanted to discuss it. Now that I have finished justifying myself, I’m going to start this off by telling you a story. On the sixth of November, I was sent to A&E, which after going to the supermarket and the park felt like my third big excursion this year. (Did I book three holidays to the same place this year and they all get cancelled? Yes! Am I bitter about it? Absolutely!) I won’t go into all the TMI details, more so for your benefit than mine, but my whereabouts is important to the staging of this story. High on morphine and lack of sleep, I couldn’t stop crying that night in my hospital bed. Now I feel like this is probably a normal reaction to being in the hospital.

Obviously, this isn’t the best time to be sick. I’ve always been very lucky to have my family come with me in the past, but with Covid 19 I had to fly solo. It was an upsetting situation to be in, but I had fantastic care (shout out to Marcus the nurse who distracted with a fantastic Bo-Jo impression) and felt very lucky that day and everyday to have the NHS. Okay, I have to stop trying to fish for your sympathy because you definitely won’t feel that way once I tell you why I was actually crying - not having any Wi-Fi. I know, I feel embarrassed about it now (my only defence is being heavily medicated), but in that moment, I had bigger fish to fry than telling my family how I was doing. All I was concerned about was how He was doing. Many of you may have already clicked who I’m talking about, but it will be completely clear once I tell you that this story takes place during the most recent US Presidential Election. Leading up to it, I had told myself that I wasn’t interested, but as soon as I woke up on the third of November, I was like a woman possessed. It was all I thought about, all I spoke about and how I never developed repetitive strain injury from constantly refreshing my phone is anyone’s guess.

When I found that Joe Biden had won the majority in Pennsylvania that Friday night, I was so relieved that I burst into tears. You might be thinking that this is a pretty extreme reaction to the result of an election in a completely different country, but after the year that we have had it really was a build-up of emotions. This has been such a big year, Covid-19 aside, so many political and social issues have taken to the world’s stage in the last twelve months: climate change, racial injustice, a global recession and a rise of domestic poverty. Watching the news this year has been like watching the worst kind of horror film and I honestly didn’t have any hope that things were going to get better. So, for me, Biden’s win felt a bit like finding water in the middle of a long drought. For the first time this year, maybe even longer, I finally felt like I could see the spark of positive change starting to happen. We can only hope that this is a trend that will continue to spread.

Since I turned eighteen, I’ve voted in three general elections and voted on perhaps the most dividing social issue in the UK in the last twenty years - Brexit. Each time I found myself in the same cycle of feeling quietly hopeful to feeling bitterly disappointed with the outcome. Funnily enough, it wasn’t until I was discussing the previous US election with a friend that I actually realised what was influencing my cycle of upset – social media. (Side-note – remind me to tell you about my night out with the TG where we cheered for Trump thinking it was hilarious until we woke up the next morning and realised that we had jinxed the whole thing!) Now maybe this seems obvious to some of you, but once I made this connection it felt so enlightening. I realised that in the lead up to any major election or political debate, my social media always mirrored my own views because I was one that had designed it. Our social media accounts are personally curated spaces. We decide who to follow, who to unfollow, what we consume and what we post. So really, it’s no surprise that it so perfectly reflects our likes, beliefs and social and political views because fundamentally it’s a reflection of ourselves.

When things in the world have been troubling and changing for the worst, I’ve always found myself turning to my world online. More so this year, than any other I’ve found comfort in the lives of others online because they’re so different from my own. However, I do think the distinction between the real-world and the world online has become blurred and this is so evident when it comes to the presentation and promotion of any political agenda. As I said previously, my social media accounts are curated, yet seeing my own views reflected in so many posts, by so many people, has always made me feel so validated. However, it has also led me into a false sense of security before every political decision I’ve made in the last five years. I must say it’s always so discouraging when the results come in and you realise that your community, that seems so vast and never-ending online, is actually the real-world minority.

But that’s the thing about social media, even though I spent fifteen hours on it last week (I’m really exposing my bad habits here), it isn’t real life. This is the thought that I want to leave you with this week. Despite the idea that at its very core social media is meant to reflect an authentic view of our lives, it’s so incredibly important to remember that not everything we see is true. This is perhaps one of the biggest lessons that I’ve learnt over the last few years, and I’ve definitely learnt it the hard way! Some of the most educational, diverse and loving communities can be found online and on social media. But it’s also a platform that breeds trolling, hate speech and frequently promotes the cancellation of thoughts, ideas and at it’s most extreme - people. The time that we currently live in is the most advanced and forward-thinking that our world has ever been. Yet this world that is yearning to promote progression and change is also the same one in which 24,500 people complained to Ofcom about a BLM performance on primetime television. It’s so hard to comprehend that these two scenarios can coexist at the same time. Therefore, the best way to navigate this conflicting environment that we find ourselves in is to treat everything we see with a healthy dose of scepticism. Whilst it may seem like such a pessimistic thing to do, it’s honestly so good for the soul. Maybe people are as happy and lucky as they appear to be online. Maybe Diversity did “storm the stage” at the BGT final. But question everything, every post on Instagram, every news article, every post on this very blog. Open yourself up to every opposition and find validation not in conforming with others, but in forming your own opinion in spite of the masses.

M x