Spring depression and online community


During the episodes of confinement, we said and wrote a lot that social networks and digital interaction platforms made it possible not to feel too alone. We are no longer confined, but the current social events mean that we are again half locked up.

Parliamentary marathon

We will immediately evacuate the subject — and implore the clemency of my beloved editor-in-chief — if I speak to you about the pension reform instead of a film, a series or a book, it is I just have an empty head. I saw The Glory on Netflix, which I hated. I saw Pretty Little Liars — Original Sin — which I loved. I started Mom, who I like very much, but who is quite dark. I see bits of chronicle taking shape to tell you about it, without managing to build a coherent whole. And as far as my reading is concerned, let’s say that even looking hard, I don’t really see how to talk to you, in Zapping Décrypté, about the Gulag Archipelago.

Imagine that you find yourself working for six weeks, almost non-stop, including Saturday, Sunday and nights, a subject you deeply hate (pension reform). I took it upon myself, I followed the debates, I dissected the text, I moderated my Discord room.

The fall, you know it. I will not say what I think of the text itself or of the latest episodes that took place in the National Assembly. Not only that’s not the point, but if it’s still to find myself with angry keyboard who will give me a political label, no thank you, I no longer have the strength. As for the form, everything has already been written on Projet Arcadie.

Incidents and moderation

The result of the censure motion was greeted with some resentment by many people. When you work in the media, especially when you are a parliamentary media, it is difficult to ignore it. In a pinch, you can turn off the television, turn off your professional Twitter account for the evening, put on a cartoon (or a horror movie) and forget about the rest of the world.

Except when you have a Discord room. Overall, my community is relatively civilized, calm and moderate. I attribute this moderation to the average age of the members. But the latest events have shocked some. To the point that it was literally necessary to cut off their whistle. Analyzing the situation, I realized that I was doing it for two reasons.

The first was to keep a certain general calm. The second was more selfish: I was simply coming to saturation. When you think about it, constantly having words of anger, images of violence before your eyes, is not restful for a human mind. It becomes toxic. To the point where I made my moderators laugh by asking them if I could leave my own Discord room.

My community is modest, so everything remains manageable in absolute terms. And it is while writing these lines that I think back to a BFM TV podcast on the burn-out of Youtubers. I didn’t have time to listen to it, but when I saw the announcement, I smiled ironically. Mea culpa: I shouldn’t have.

Toxic internet users

Youtubers, Twitchers, new media, we are media in our own right, each with our specialties. But, we are globally more fragile. Statutorily, most of us are not recognized as journalists. Sometimes, we manage to be recognized as a media or press agency, but, believe me, it’s complicated.

Financially, we can manage, but we must not hope to make long-term projects. The reality is that we live day to day. Morally, it’s more complicated. We are more isolated, even with a community. I almost want to say “especially with a community”.

Also in reality too, one can never breathe. You’d be surprised how many messages I get on social media on evenings, weekends, holidays, even outside of so-called hot political news. I stopped answering it. I also stopped answering people who ask me basic questions. I mask Internet users who become embedded in conversations. I block insults.

We are not distributors of answers, we are human beings and after a while, having around fifty notifications every morning is exhausting. The reader might think “just stop answering”. Exactly: most Youtubers, Twitchers and new media cannot. We receive from a community, we must also “give”. The day the community is no longer there, it’s simple: there is no more money. However, most are self-employed and are therefore excluded from psychosocial risk coverage. The only way to quit is to do something else, which is not easy. Or to change environment, which is not easy either.

Obviously, we are privileged, in the sense that we have chosen our trades, we are quite free in our movements and we have a certain notability. However, this does not prevent us from questioning our own practices. Platforms are often put on trial, but platforms are fed first by individuals. When you call out to someone on a social network, do you remember that on the other side, there is a human being? When you vent your anger in a community space, do you realize you’re venting on people who haven’t done anything to you? And us, how do we slow down?

But, you have to see the bright side of things: if we, the new media, manage to withstand the shock, technically, we can survive anything. Finally, online communities are just a technical expression of social Darwinism.





Source link -97