People, not numbers

Photo by Robin Worrall on Unsplash

Articolo in italiano a questo indirizzo

In the early days of social media, interactions primarily took place between people who knew each other in real life. We acted with kindness and sought to maintain a relationship similar to the one we had in person, knowing that there was a real individual on the other side, belonging to the real world.

As social media evolved, people began to connect with strangers, united only by their use of the same platform or common interests. This phenomenon already existed in pre-social systems like FidoNet and Usenet, but it was mainly limited to industry experts.

Today, for many, social media contacts have become numbers printed on a screen, mere symbols of our social success, our media popularity, and the interest our ideas or actions generate. In this process, we often forget that behind each number (excluding bots) there is a person with their challenges, qualities, and flaws - a person just like us.

We must commit to not reducing others to mere numbers on a screen and remember that each of us carries a set of problems, concerns, joys, and pains.

Social media are tools for communication between people; we need to remember to treat each other as such.

Written and posted by: Stefano Marinelli