Tribes, projection, and advice, oh my!
It occurred to me yesterday when I was talking to Keri that since I have not been on social media, I have not seen the word “neurodivergent.” Not one time that I recall. When I was on socials, saw it many times a day. Even had a shrink appointment, no mention of that word. It’s as if it only exists online. And I qualify for that group.
Many times I saw rants addressing whole categories or diagnoses of people as if they were the same. Then when I read their capital letters, it was obvious they had one person in mind. I’ll never get the time spent on those posts back. But I am glad to be rid of them.
Psychological projection is when folks use their own lives to give themselves an image of who they’re talking to online (or in person) and then address that image. These are the worst. Possibly why I quit. For some reason, I find this super annoying. Happens all the time too. All walks of life, all political parties.
Sometimes the advice is excruciating.
As a musician, I got projection a lot. Advice. One person wrote me this long thing. I didn’t even know who they were. I was all in their head. There was more, but I don’t want to make anyone puke.
Projection is another thing I have noticed that has gone with social media. I’m really glad about that one. I hated it the most.
At its best social media is a place to learn something and visit with friends. But it’s usually tribes and projection that don’t exist outside of it. I’ll take the library for learning, and people I can see and touch for visiting.
What is social media nowadays, anyway?
What’s happened is social media has become a tool for folks to sway popular opinion. Those folks have a lot of money. I’m not going to agree with them on much. They think they deserve to be rich, and I deserve to be poor. Not my thing.
There aren’t a lot of “them.” That’s why they are in better position if we are divided on anything. (Literally, ice chests, phone manufacturers, rock bands, video games, politics, religion, any brand name kind of thing they throw at us is an opportunity to learn our preferences. That is data.)
There’s tons of stuff every human has in common from needing water to clean air and a ground to stand on. Everyone deserves healthcare and food and shelter. That probably costs money. That’s what “they” have a lot of. So they divide us. Not only does it help them keep their status and move about freely, they keep their moolah.
But the projection..
I’d like to get back to Projection. If you find yourself on social media and someone projects on you, please call it out. I know it’s difficult. But unless I saw it called out, then looked it up, I would never know what it is. It’s bizarre sometimes too. Was told I sold kids shoes, beat my wife..I’ve been called MAGA and DEM (I’m neither, but they both seem to think you’re one or the other if you correct their view on reality).
If you look up psychological projection, you’ll find talk about a defense mechanism. If someone knows you and knows this about you, they can trigger your projection. The rich folks who own social media count on it. Not only does it keep us divided, it usually reveals valuable information. Data. That’s what they want too. It’s profiting them.
Social Media isn’t required.
Social media bugged me because it was thorny and because everyone has their guard up. Danger changes the vibe of the whole room. I like getting past the icebreakers and diving into music and relationships. Social media didn’t help me there. Now that it’s been gone a bit, I’m convinced it’s not helping anyone, except a few rich folks.
Return home.
For more on Projection: The wiki is kinda’ heady and historically focused, which is fine. But it will take longer to catch up to modern times that way. This link here catches anyone up pretty quickly. Thanks.