To judge or not to judge on social media

Social media has become a very integral part of our lives as almost everyone who owns a smartphone is on one social media platform or the other, be it WhatsApp, Facebook, X (Twitter) or even LinkedIn. I have been using social media right from the time of Eskimi and 2go, and one thing I have realized over the years is that there's so much fake life on social media. It's even worse now and it's majorly due to the advancement in technology, making it easier for people to fake their lifestyle online.

When it comes to judging people's social media profiles, we are looking at two sides of a coin. On one side, it's right but on the other side, it's wrong. Let's start with the right side.

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The right side

A person's social media profile can indeed offer insights into a person's character and behaviour. What a person posts online can give you a glimpse of how they truly are in the real world. If a person is very toxic online, chances are they are also toxic in reality. Before now, employers rarely go through a person's social media profile to get a feel of their personality but these days, it's becoming a trend for them to go through a potential employee's digital footprint and make a decision based on what they see.

Indeed, I have heard stories of people not getting job offers or even getting fired because of something they posted online. What the person posted might truly be a reflection of their personality and values but sometimes, It might also be that the person posted such things just to have fun and they really didn't mean it but the employers already made a decision based on what they saw without bothering to know the reason behind it. And this brings us to the other side of the coin;

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The wrong side

A person's profile can also be the opposite of what they are in the real world and we have all seen this happen so many times, the so-called fake life which is all over social media. Someone might appear bold and aggressive on social media but in reality, they are very gentle and shy. An example of this is me, back when I was very active on social media. I was very aggressive and tended to pick fights just for fun, it didn't help that I also had a vile tongue (vile fingers?) and I easily lashed out.

But in reality, I was very gentle and even shy. Most people who knew me online doubted I was the same person when they met me face to face. I have impeccable communication skills online and I appear to have good mastery of English but in reality, I don't communicate properly, I tend to think properly about what I want to say and this sometimes causes delays in communication. In WhatsApp groups, I can easily join any conversation but in the real world, I barely speak when I'm in a crowd. So, you can see how social media offers people a false representation of who I really am.

My case is even small as compared to even crazier stories on social media. A person can appear to be the sweetest person in the world but in reality, they are monsters. There are so many abstractions online because people only show what they want the world to see and not their ugly side. Social media shows a distorted version of reality and some people behave in a certain way just for clout. You can see this happening on X (formerly Twitter), a lot of people do anything just to get engagement and get a share of Elon Musk's money by the end of the month.

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Verdict

It's simple; people shouldn't be judged by their social media profiles. I have shared the pros and cons, and in my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros. Social media was originally created as a place for having fun and I believe everything done there shouldn't be taken at face value. I don't understand why employers think that a person's social media profile tells a lot about them. A person can appear perfect online but when they get employed, the company realizes they have lots of flaws which weren't portrayed on social media. The best way still remains to observe what the person does in reality, that's how you can truly get a sense of their character.

Thanks for reading

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