I have recently begun to wonder about the effects of social media on our lives, well mine.
So before I began I happen to love Randy Rainbow and here is a song.
Because I thought we all needed a laugh before I jumped into this.
Sometime between 2004-2005 after Facebook had been creating I was sitting at a table eating lunch with some college friends. They were on Facebook and I had no clue what they were talking about. So they explained it to me and helped me signed up for my first account.
Through the time and over the years I have seen Facebook grow. I have seen social media grow. And with that I’ve also seen hatred grow.
When Facebook Groups were first made I am unsure if Facebook knew what power they would hold.
Michael Sellick who ran Crochet~Along Crochet Crowders group
“Considering the limitations that Facebook can offer in Group Pages, our team has made a heart wrenching decision to discontinue this group page for reasons that stem well beyond our control.
Our team wants to focus and donate our time to help crocheters by creating content in the form of blogs, pattern writing, social interaction, video content, live events, suggest patterns, and more, our team really wants to focus on the free educational component of what has made us The Crochet Crowd and discontinue ourselves from having to be a police content. I love to crochet but more importantly, I love to share skills with you all and teach. I want to focus on the next latest patterns, be excited and enjoy it with you. Not worry about coming up from my studio and seeing the next swaft of emails of complaints for me to deal with. My resources are limited.
This page was originally designed for The Crochet Crowd Crochet-Alongs. It was to help for the Crochet Challenges but morphed into something so much bigger. It was never meant to be a general socialization page. We enjoyed how it morphed and thank you for being part of this community. I’ve had many celebrations along with you.
There is not enough time in our schedules to moderate this page as closely as others demand from us. So in light of this, we’ve chosen to stick to our educational platform. Based on the mental health of our team, we have to discontinue to this page. We have to continue to focus on our joys and happiness where yarn and crochet collide.
We will gladly see you back on the main page where we can interact with you to share your joys and creativity.
Until Facebook has a way to manage very large group format pages on their platform, we have to step back. This is our second attempt of a group page on Facebook that has been closed. Our first attempt was in 2011 where one of our team members was threatened with death threats in trying to moderate the page. Facebook has made great changes from the original format; however, it still does not have the proper tools we need to manage this group without draining the resources of the individuals and companies.
We hope you respect our decision. It was not an easy one, as we have donated well beyond our time to spread the love of crochet in this group page.
Continue to follow us at our main Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/TheCrochetCommunity/
This page will be gone by 12 Noon EST tomorrow.”
And you can read his open letter to Facebook here.
Social media has opened up to cyber bullying, cyber stalking, etc.
It’s super easy for someone to sit behind a computer and bully, harass, defame, slander, etc people. I have found it is really easy to create a fake account. I know of 6 people who have 4 accounts that they use to cyber bully, harass, cyber stalk, etc. And I am wondering how they have all this time.
The hardest thing for me is that social media has opened up to body shaming. Recently someone close to me was a victim of body shaming. A military wife decided to steal a photo of someone close to me off my Facebook. Another military wive turned it into something else. Then I was sent a group link by another military wife because it turned into body shaming. Grown adults who claim they are military spouses, men and women, calling someone fat a teenager fat. I went to defend as any one would do. And then quickly the body shaming was taken down and they turned themselves into a victim. I received death threats and threatened to be beat up. By military spouses and military members.
I reported it, I reported death threats. And Facebook told me it didn’t violate their Community Standards. So I sent all of my pages to a trusted friend and I deactivated my account. Because Facebook wouldn’t hold up to their own community standards.
It’s been weird without Facebook, I will admit. That instead of messaging someone I pick up the phone and call them. I have set time zones on my phone because I have friends around the world. So I know when to call, text, or email them.
And honestly it’s been great. Having an hour long chat with someone, and at one point fighting over who had the accent.
I’m still on Twitter and other social medias. I’ve just given FB a huge time out. Until they can actually take control of what they have created and find a better way to monitor it.
Simply Being Elle 