I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I’d love to quit Facebook, but I need it for personal marketing purposes. Scrolling is mindless and endless. It’s been a practice to snap myself out of it, as I look at the larger picture: I don’t want my life to go to waste.
What I do love about it: connection and information.
Social media has heightened and mobilized the Black Lives Matter movement. It is filling our feeds (you must make an effort not to look). After the election in 2016, I was desperately seeking this abundance of information we see now. There are endless tools at our fingertips and access to videos that we would not have seen otherwise. Folks get to share their stories. Education is more easily accessible. We know more about where to donate and how to protest. It’s a platform to amplify voices so they can be heard.
As a Woman of Color (WOC), I have learned so much and still have a lot to learn about Black oppression. I am committed to stand with other POCs (people of color). I will continue to genuinely share the information that helps me understand, as well as genuinely follow BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) folks on Instagram/Facebook (I’m not on Twitter!). I’ve already found many WOCs who are environmentalists, yogis, and therapists/psychologists – right up my alley.
Keep swiping and scrolling. It will save lives.