This Week's Opening Thought: July 11, 2022

This week's opening thought: I took a five-day vacation recently. Coupled with that was a six-day stint away from technology, social media, content posting, and all that jazz. It was terrific, y'all. Wonderful. I relaxed. I ate some bomb-ass food. I wandered around San Diego. I read books for pleasure and not for learning and anti-racism knowledge for the first time in a long time. I almost forgot how nice it was to read for fun. I recommend it.

I also recommend walking away from this internet sh—as much as possible.

I'm going to be taking a week off from all of this online sh-- at least once a month from now on. I'm also planning to disconnect from it all in the evening.

Real talk? Identities, self-worth, and the quest for validation permeate so much of the internet experience for many of us. We're so tethered to this surreality of social media and the internet that it starts becoming a parallel existence for too many people. I know I threw myself into using social media as my platform for my work during the pandemic when the in-person opportunities disappeared. At some point during it all, I lost the focus and purpose of my work on these social media platforms. I got lost in the comments and the "debates." The opportunities to share knowledge would routinely devolve into soapbox moments. Around six or seven months ago, I caught myself in this quagmire.

I realized that I got stuck in a surreality.

I realized I needed to get my ass unstuck real quick.

I began focusing on making sure the things I posted were back to being intentional and informative. I silenced the "debaters" by deleting their comments and blocking their access to my work. I deleted the DMs and reported many of the folx who sent me hateful messages. The truth is, my online content is now at a point where it displays my voice and views in more impactful ways than it ever has.

And that's right around when the hateful DMs became more of a regular occurrence, to the point where I had to ensure messages from people not on my friend's lists would be blocked.

That's when the reports of my posts about white supremacy being "racist" began to increase.

That's when the temporary bans for "hate speech" content, i.e., posts pushing for white people to be responsible for their upholding of white supremacy, started to happen with more regularity.

So I took six days off from any interactions with social media and content creation around race, inequity, and human resources issues.

I returned to an inbox of hateful DMs and seven people I needed to block with comments I needed to delete.

I returned to see that LinkedIn decided a post I made about white people not understanding Black communities' trauma when Black people are murdered by the police was "hate speech" after I appealed to have it reposted. The usual pattern of LinkedIn is if you're a Black person,  once they've decided something you've posted is "hate speech," your days on the platform are numbered. Either your posts will get lost in the ether, or you will be removed from the platform altogether.

In other words, I returned to another week on social media as an unapologetic Black person who isn't looking for validation and "debates."

So I'm going to return my ass back into an extended vacation from social media.

I'd rather sit on my porch with a La Croix and read a good book than entertain the thought of putting my whole self on platforms built on pushing legitimate hate speech and silencing Global Majority folx. Some of y'all prove every day that you are the reason we all can't have nice things, so I'm going to make sure you don't get to have a place to be a white supremacist on my time.

From now on, my primary content will be built for my website, a possible newsletter, and an eventual paywall at the beginning of 2023. I will no longer post complete content pieces on social media platforms, just off-site links to said content pieces. And even though I'll be creating more regularly scheduled content, sharing the links to that content on social media won't be a regular occurrence. If you want to continue following and engaging with my content, you can always add the RSS feed to your RSS reader or bookmark my website.

Now, lemme get off this internet and back to my Tangerine La Croix and The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix because this book is messed up, and this drink is refreshing as hell, y'all!

Live your life on your terms.