Why Social Media is Like A Thrift Store
One of my favorite things to do on weekends is to peruse flea markets, garage sales, consignment shops and thrift stores. Over the years I’ve managed to find some great things…artwork, books, jewelry, clothing, furniture, and pottery.
Sometimes my husband will ask me, “Is there something in particular you’re looking for?” and the answer is always, “No, but I’ll know when I see it.”.
Thrift stores and consignment shops often have that particular smell of old books, mixed with a faint whiff of cigarette smoke and damp that I find very familiar and even comforting. It reminds me of being back home in my 20’s. On Saturday mornings my mom would have a list of the addresses of garage and estate sales, auctions and thrift stores she wanted to visit. She’d map them out, and with a determined gaze, she would urge me into the car so we could set out to find our treasures.
You never know what you might find at a thrift store or garage sale. A few of my thrift and consignment store prized finds of have been:
- The handknitted Italian sweaters (unfortunately my mother mistakenly threw them in the wash and they ended up doll-sized).
- The framed menu from the transatlantic ocean liner.
- Various pieces of jewelry including the moonstone ring.
- Antique artwork and furniture.
These are the treasures …but there are also a lot of “duds” that you will come across in a thrift shop. The terrible artwork, the cheap rugs and fabrics, poorly made furniture, stacks of well-thumbed romance novels, and the “As Seen on TV” gimmicky products. My mother was good at teaching me the difference between an item that was a treasure and one that was just trash, “that’s just junk” she’d say.
So that’s my comparison to social media. There are those tweets and posts you treasure. The uplifting or funny video, the heartwarming message or thread, the positive interaction and support, and the great article or research that you save to share. But there’s also the crappy stuff, the junk, the trash — the trolls…the haters…the bullies and the Russian bots.
It takes some patience and dedication to walk past the worthless things in the thrift shop and spot the treasures, and the same is true of social media. Sometimes you have to look beyond the crappy stuff and junk and ignore the trash so you can discover the treasures — focus on the positives, the good stuff…and the good people.