Twitter – sorry, ‘X’ – is usually a fairly depressing place as of late, cannot it? I’ve been progressively going off it for some time and discovering myself utilizing it far much less incessantly, and this gradual retreat was accelerated when Mr Tesla/Space X took the helm and made it even much less fulfilling, for my part. I open the app so occasionally now that my cellphone just lately routinely eliminated it as a consequence of underuse.
It’s a disgrace as, for the most effective a part of a decade and a half, it has been my go-to social media platform for sharing snippets of my birding and different nature stuff to a neighborhood of like-minded wildlife fans and, in flip, having fun with catching up on their sightings and views. It at all times felt like such an upbeat and constructive place to spend time and, in some ways, it was the proper platform for our passion – even the emblem was a chicken!
I’m unsure if it is all because of the takeover on the prime or possibly partly the overall political and social local weather of the instances, however these days it is arduous to not really feel prefer it’s all turn into somewhat overwhelmed by doom and gloom – to not point out, in fact, a barrage of misinformation and conspiracy theories.
There is lots to really feel down about within the pure world, however might some birders attempt to be a bit extra encouraging on social media?
From a birding perspective, particularly at a time after we should be encouraging as many young individuals as potential to nurture a love of the pure world and be constructive voices for change to reverse the harm that has been executed in recent many years, the tidal wave of negativity that may generally await when logging in to X is lower than useful. Yes, in fact, we’re within the midst of a local weather and biodiversity disaster and the sixth mass extinction, however purposeful technology of a nihilistic on-line narrative merely promotes extra of the identical – seemingly with no finish purpose besides garnering just a few ‘likes’.
Social media moaning
I acknowledge that I’ve been responsible of some overly damaging Twitter output up to now, and I can perceive {that a} sort of shared defeatism can really feel oddly comforting when confronted by but extra downbeat nature information. I’ve to say although that, typically talking, it’s older birders who’re the worst offenders, harping on concerning the glory days and the way every part is horrible now, so what is the level in even attempting. I’ve seen on-line conversations unfold the place birders of a sure technology appear to be attempting to outdo each other with their pessimism in scenes harking back to Monty Python’s Four Yorkshiremen sketch.
Anyone who has seen the documentary The Social Dilemma will know the horrifying energy that social media has when it comes to dictating our moods and influencing our world view. Studies have confirmed that a rise in damaging output from different customers in our timelines results in elevated negativity in our personal output. And the other can be true: if we’re introduced with extra constructive takes in our information feeds then our personal narrative will replicate that. For all our technological advances we’re nonetheless primarily a herd animal that may be pushed and influenced by our friends and people we admire, whether or not we realise it or not.
It’s clearly no exaggeration to say that within the UK we’ve decimated our chicken populations, however there are additionally lots of people working very arduous on attempting to show that round and there are good-news tales to be discovered, celebrated and shared, if we select to. It’s because of this that we should all attempt tougher to rise above it, and never be drawn in by the temptation to fire up pessimism and fatalism. Instead, let’s attempt to encourage positivity and optimism, let’s pause earlier than selling bad-news tales or wallowing in or propagating extra negativity. Let’s combat towards the tide of doom scrolling and as a substitute be purveyors of every part we’re grateful for and that which is price celebrating. As birders, let’s be torchbearers for the way thrilling and rewarding our passion may be, slightly than focusing solely on the unhealthy information.
- This column first appeared within the November 2023 version of Birdwatch. To be the primary to learn the journal every month, take out a subscription to Birdwatch or Bird News Ultimate.
