Social Media for good!

The next Lunch & Learn topic is on screen time, so I’ve been doing some planning for it and getting my thoughts together. I’ve been thinking about social media and how it has made the world feel smaller and more connected in some ways, yet it still reminds us of how different we are. On the other hand, it shows how quickly wrong or misleading information can be spread, while those who share the positive and uplifting information might tend to get diminished among the louder voices.

One thing I love about social media is the fact that we get to learn about people and cultures right from the source. I am currently on Inuit TikTok, where I watch a guy cut up and eat narwhal blubber or caribou with soy sauce. I know what is an ulu and why it’s easier to use that to cut the meat than a knife. For a few weeks last year my feed was inundated with videos of Hadzabe tribes and I got a chance to see what their life is like (before I stopped watching when they started trying to make them try all sorts of Western things.) The point is, we can experience the world in a way that you can’t by reading a history book or watching a movie. We get to see people’s real lives, from them. No bias.

This also means that we learn how different we can be, and why we need to have more grace and understanding of others’ experiences. On someone’s travel video recently where the person was scared to fly, I was shocked by the amount of people in the comments who’d never flown in their entire lives. Even with my very, VERY modest childhood, I have always known a life of flying/traveling, even if it was a quick hop to Tobago. I cannot fathom the thought of never having been on a plane or somewhere different from my home in my entire life!

A couple of weeks ago on a flight back from Tobago to Trinidad, we were put on the big jet. I’m pretty sure that the older lady walking on board in front of me had never been on a plane that size, because she had no idea how to find her seat. I kept thinking “imagine if this is your first time EVER on a plane - at that age - what would the experience be like for her?” Admittedly, I usually get extremely annoyed when traveling and people are absolutely clueless about what to do, especially when going through security. I’m proud of myself in that moment for showing some silent empathy rather than watching her with all the cut eye after a long day for holding me up from finding my seat! Maybe realising that being new to travel is more common than I expected might soften me up……maybe!

April is Autism Awareness month. I dread April and lay low on social media because of it. There is SO much noise around autism, much of which is outdated and far outside of my values and practices. However, some of the loudest voices preach the outdated messages and know so little about the actual autistic experience, and I do not have it in me to fight every battle, because it will wear me down. One organisation posted a flyer with lots of puzzle pieces and blue hearts, preaching autism awareness. I caved and shared a video in the comments that I made a few years ago about why puzzle pieces and the “light it up blue” movement are outdated. (Here is the video: https://youtu.be/cBseo3yKpPo?si=wff4wHapxMfQnRFA ). I cannot and will not do that for every single post I come across, and not for the many business places pushing autism merchandise when I’m sure none of the proceeds benefits any autistic person. It’s too much for me.

So here is my humble request of you for April/Autism month, regarding your social media consumption. Please listen to autistic voices, and autistic-led organisations to get your information. If someone is promoting their merchandise, please ask them where the proceeds will go. Please inform others about why puzzle pieces and the colour blue aren’t accurate representations of the autistic experience (you can share the video above.) Please use your platform to be the louder voices for good.