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The Power of Words
Dangers of the written word in social media and how to harness them for good
By Jim NoyesJapan is reeling from the effects of a horrific earthquake and tsunami with thousands of people dead and missing. In the midst of this tragedy, the so-called comedian Gilbert Gottfried used Twitter as a forum to make horribly insensitive jokes about the devastation and loss that Japan is facing. Anyone who found Mr. Gottfried even remotely amusing is missing a basic human emotion – compassion.
Today’s world is dominated by social media, e-mail and texting. The power of the words we write, text or tweet have gotten to the point where they can reach thousands of people in minutes, whether for good or for evil. Too often people now use these electronic tools for evil – to intentionally hurt one person or even an entire nation of people. I don’t know why…
What I do know is that words are mighty powerful. Using Facebook or Twitter or any other social media site to attack or mock an individual or group of people is undeniably wrong. Likewise, using e-mail as a means to demean or hurt another person in any way is a cowardly act whether you’re the CEO or the file room clerk.
I’m very happy having a smaller number of strong personal and business relationships with folks I respect and truly call my friends. We talk on the phone regularly and get together often to discuss business. I don’t need 500 Facebook friends or 15,000 LinkedIn connections to make myself look to the world like someone I’m not. My real and personal relationships will stand the test of time; electronic relationships using e-mail, texting and social media as the primary way to interact have too much potential to use the power of words in a negative manner that will cause pain and harm to people.
My thoughts on this subject are mine alone. Nobody in my company has endorsed them. I simply believe that we live today in an electronic, media driven world where the potential for the harmful and destructive use of words has been multiplied immeasurably from a few decades past.
Gilbert Gottfried just proved it.
We all need more “one-on-one face time” with our friends and business partners if we want to build true and lasting relationships. By doing so we’ll also become more compassionate human beings and harness the power of our words for good in this world.
I think you are right on! We need to be careful what we say and take a broad view when we comment on social media.
For many people, social media has created opportunities to be closer to friends or colleagues from the past, and it has opened doors to new friendships or opportunities. People need to spend some time getting the privacy settings right and listening before jumping into comment. I agree with you about the importance of true friends and face time. I value that more than ever. I also think our virtual communities can be limited to real friends and important contacts. Just building numbers for the sake of looking well connected or popular won’t have any lasting value in my opinion.
I agree with both of you Matthew and Susan – thank you for your comments!
Yes, and sometimes we can comment on “issues” of the day and unkowingly open ourselves up to traps. I know this from experience. The experience has taught me that even if I feel very passionate about a “heated issue” of the day, some nefarious people on the other side of the issue will publish your comments and open you up to targeted hatred. Tough out there nowadays. I still believe that you can take a stand on an issue and as long as it is not “hateful” and is from your heart and researched, then it is what it is. I am just going to be alot more careful before commenting on an issue.