Social Media has brought a real danger to the forefront of society.
It’s not the security risks that might be inherent in social media, although there are many of these types of risks.
It’s not the many inherent dangers that might be found in social media, although they are valid dangers.
It’s not the very real and very serious issues parents and children must be aware of when dealing with social media.
What is the real danger found in social media today?
Its the same danger found in all aspects of life but social media seems to exacerbate it.
What is it?
Blindly following others and allowing them to form your opinion for you.
Of course, that’s always been a danger for anyone at anytime in history. But…the adoption and widespread use of social media is leading to more and more ‘sheeple‘ in existence today.
In the past, these sheeple could always find someone’s opinion or idea to blindly follow but social media has given rise to a much more dangerous world for these folks.
Its quite easy today to find someone on Facebook or Twitter to follow. Someone who seems to know what they are talking about. Someone famous perhaps…or someone who labels themselves an expert.
Sheeple base their opinions on the opinions of those they follow. In most instances they blindly accept as truth/fact/gospel whatever comes across their twitter stream (or email or web brower) without taking one nanosecond to think about whether that ‘fact’ is true.
Sheeple are nothing new…but social media has opened up a growth industry for the this non-thinking class to thrive.
Think for yourself. Analyze for yourself. Be yourself. Heck…disagree with the people you follow (but disagree cordially of course). You might find that you’ve learned more from non-agreement than you ever learned from simply nodding your head and moving on.
Don’t be a sheeple…plenty exist already.
Stop being lead by the sheeple shepherds and start thinking for yourself.
8 responses to “The dangers of social media…or…don’t be a sheeple”
I’m not sure I completely agree with this….I think that life has lots of leaders and lots of followers and social media doesn’t make you more of a leader or a follower. If you are going to blindly accept someone elses opinion I think you would do it regardless of what you read on Facebook or Twitter! :0)
I completely agree with you Tina…but…social media has made it much easier to blindly follow.
An example:
A ‘personal improvement’ guru on twitter that has 500K followers can get his/her message across faster and more effectively to their followers using social media. IN the past, that guru would have had to have some form of production (tv show, radio show, presentation, etc) to drive their message…now its instantaneous.
Published: The dangers of social media…or…don't be a sheeple http://bit.ly/fofN7v
The dangers of social media…or…don’t be a sheeple http://restwrx.com/eb3gz9 via @EricDBrown
The dangers of social media…or…don’t be a sheeple http://j.mp/i70r1Q
RT @ericdbrown: The dangers of social media…or…don't be a sheeple http://bit.ly/fofN7v
Hi Eric, just catching up on my reading list.
I too, like Tina, am not convinced that this is a social media issue. Just being able to convey a message on social media network does not carry the same weight as going to a rally an listening to a charismatic speaker. Be that as it may, the message itself is powerful and I’m in full support of your call to encourage less ‘sheepish’ world.
Fully agree with: “Think for yourself. Analyze for yourself. Be yourself. Heck…disagree with the people you follow (but disagree cordially of course). You might find that you’ve learned more from non-agreement than you ever learned from simply nodding your head and moving on.”
Cheers, Shim.
Commented on "Don't be a sheeple – the dangers of social media | Eric D. Brown" ( http://bit.ly/eOqCb8 ) #pmot