friendship and loyalty in a followers and likes culture
I rediscovered my Negativity Slayers podcast archives sitting safe and sound. I created the show over a dozen years ago at Blogtalkradio to practice organizing a program and public speaking. Several friends came on board as visiting co-hosts. Miss Diva was one of my dearest friends who co-hosted many many shows and inspired thought provoking conversations.
We loved that my mom was a regular caller who tuned in to tell me to get more rest and make sure that I’m taking care of myself. There was also the unpredictable aspect of people I didn’t know calling in. I had to remind listeners to keep the conversation G-rated when they came on the air because, you know; MOM. I had an array of noise makers to clear the air if they didn’t.
It’s all here in its rough and rugged glory. I purposely didn’t exercise the delete button wanting to learn from my mistakes and I made many. JNET, the dork exists.
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/negativityslayers
I was podcasting before it became a thing! I mentioned to Miss Diva that I’d like to reboot the show which is my blog in conversation form; a show that discusses the art of living creatively and productively positive, sharing lessons learned from the school of life.
Miss Diva: “What will your reboot episode discuss?”
JNET: “Friendship and Loyalty in a Likes and Followers Culture. Being long time friends, we know a thing or two about being “super friends” toward one another.”
The topic was inspired by my student’s recent decision to not attend prom. The pressure to ask a person to be one’s date is discouraging when the “asking” has to be social media worthy. He’s chosen to hang out with his friends who are passing on the rite of school passage.
Student: “It’s expensive to attend what is essentially a shallow event.”
Miss JNET: “You’re very smart. You know you will be happier elsewhere and aren’t compelled by a fear of missing out.”
Can you imagine having a handle on FOMO? Being creative and happy even when life feels more bearish than bullish? And feeling all is right with the world even when no one upvotes or follows you?
Miss Diva isn’t even a friend or follower of mine on any of my social media sites. She’s deactivated herself many years ago. And yet, I know she is a true and loyal friend. She chooses to tread the internet lightly.
And it will be an honor to have her back at Negativity Slayers for the reboot. Tread lightly or tread heavily, the bottom line is to not obsess about getting validated for superficial reasons.
Comment if you’d like to also visit as a guest co-host or want to see if you can make it to the reboot party to listen in and maybe chat too. I will post plans of when I plan to go live when they become solid in the comments section.
JNET
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Smart woman. :)
People would fare better in life if they ratcheted down the need for constant validation from others and worked on self validation. Great post.
It’s funny how starved people are for constant validation. Social media as a tool can be so useful but people communicate at junk food quality. Is it people or social media at fault? Personally, I see social media as a magnifying glass that can display one’s emptiness and vanity or goodness and wisdom.
I hope all is well in your world, Jason.
JNET
Thank you, changes afoot but then that is one of lifes constants :)
Glad to see you still posting. So many I follow have dropped off in the last year.
I do think social media magnifies as well. Many seem to display ideals they never emulate in their real lives (based on those I knew when I was using other social media) and has seemed to encourage rampant narcissism along with other bad structures such as encouraging others to continue self sabotaging behaviors. It bothers me that people seem so disconnected from one another in the physical world yet can't seem to put down their electronic connections for the briefest of moments. But then I'm not much for needing a lot of attention so perhaps that's what I'm not getting.
Text from Nicole: “Yay to super friends! Love you, Princess! Can’t wait to see what 2.0 of Negativity Slayers has in store. Your voice is greatly needed to bring light to this dark world. 👸🏻”
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That is amazing.