Trump’s Twitter with AChuck
President Donald J. Trump – If you hate him, it’s another arrow in your quiver. If you love him, it’s fuel for your fire. If you aren’t really sure what you think about him, you might think he needs to stop commenting on everything, especially on Twitter. This isn’t about partisan politics, donkeys, and elephants, or even policy. This is some common sense.
While I understand that “being Trump” is what elected him, it most likely will not prove to be helpful in leading and governing this great country. Please! This isn’t a Trump praise or a Trump bashing. This is a lesson for every one of us that have a social media account.
Having the ability to sit behind a keyboard and launch jabs, digs and assaults on others is a fool’s errand. That’s true if you are in Sugar Hill, Georgia or Washington DC. Social Media is an interesting universe. It can be a platform for encouragement, promotion, ideology, and connection. It can also be a place of hate, anger, sarcasm, and personal attacks. I’ve received my fair share of both sides via Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. And, I’m afraid that I’ve posted a few of those, also.
When any of us, including President Trump, use social media outlets for attacks, it reduces our thought process to the minimum wage of intelligence. The worst kind of social post are the ones launched in defense of the first statement. Restated certainty will most likely prove the need for less certainty and more consistency.
I use social media to communicate with a lot of folks, and I’ve posted a few hundred sunsets at the beach like you have. But folks, let’s challenge the thoughts that offend us and frighten us in other, more personal platforms. Here are three quick thoughts that President Trump, you and I should consider.
- Relationships are harder now because conversations become texting, arguments become phone calls, and feelings become status updates. Make an effort to discern the difference in likes, retweets, and shares versus deep and meaningful conversation across the table from your loved ones.
- One of the great challenges, as we live on social media is to grasp what is real rather than chasing what only appears to be real. Real and personal relationships are simultaneously more challenging and far more gratifying than social friendships. Here’s a thought – The best sign of a healthy relationship is no sign of it on Facebook.
- If you are willing to attack or disparage someone on social media, especially your family or spouse, you are inviting folks that have no context of the problem to have a seat in your den. Listen, folks, don’t let people know when your home isn’t happy, that’s when they think they’re welcome in. Be sure that your gripe, whine or frustration cannot and will not grow better, but will grow worse when we choose Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat as our way of “venting.”
Choose to be the adult in the room. Everything doesn’t have to happen on Facebook. It really can happen without a Twitter post. The concert might be more enjoyable by watching the artist, rather than the device screen. The number of people that like, respond and share your posts is not truly evidence that you are making a difference in this world.
As for me, I would like for my President to think a bit less out loud, and a
bit more with trusted advisors. OUCH! As I typed that last statement,
I pondered the reality that there are most certainly folks that think
the same thing about me. How about you?
Under the Same Wing,
AChuck
