Social media can be a funny thing.
On one hand, I’ve used social media to connect with people from across the globe that share similar interests as me and there never would have been a shot in hell that I’d “meet” these people without the use of some form of social media.
On the other hand, social media has given the everyday person in life a platform to really say whatever the hell they want, to whoever the hell they want. While that necessarily isn’t a bad thing (Yay for the 1st amendment), social media has turned into a unique maze of wants, needs, and validation.
I was in college when Facebook first launched and I remember thinking how cool it was. Shortly after that, Twitter began and in my opinion, has turned into the dominant form of social media today. It’d be hard for you to name a professional athlete and/or celebrity that doesn’t have a Twitter account simply because it allows those famous bastards a chance to interact with their millions of fans if they so choose.
What types of interactions they have would be another story.
It never ceases to amaze me at some of the foolishness that fans will tweet directly at a player simply because it really serves no purpose besides giving yourself a feeling of “I really told *insert athlete* off on Twitter today.”
Odds are, the person running that athlete’s social media accounts scroll right by the tweet which baffles me even more as to why even tweet at them with such a low shot of the athlete even seeing it.
Furthermore, tweeting negatively at an opposing player is one thing, but tweeting at a player on your favorite team is even MORE dumbfounding to me. I’m all for being critical of players and avoiding “blind faith” but how many of us would seriously tweet critiques at professional athletes?
These are the most skilled individuals in the world and most of us (myself included) live paycheck to paycheck but somehow we have information to give them that will make them a better ball player?
Stop it.
Cubs slugger Kris Bryant has found a solution to dealing with what I call “Twitter Tough Guys.”
Delete Twitter altogether.
Bryant shared some insight with Jesse Rogers yesterday that I found pretty fascinating.
Kris Bryant has perfectly summed up #CubsTwitter 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/b7uU5qX3cI
— Adam Nissen (@nissen54) April 1, 2019
I’ve never been a professional athlete that has been scrutinized by the public eye but even my own daily interactions on Twitter, more specifically Cubs Twitter, are exhausting. There isn’t a day that goes by that I come across someone who has all the answers to the Cubs problems.
- Fire Joe Maddon they say.
- The offense needs a new philosophy they say.
- Ownership doesn’t care about fans they say.
Once again, I’m ALL for being critical when it’s time to be critical but it seems like a lot of fans just complain to hear themselves rant. I’ll never forget in 2016 when people were pissed off after the Cubs ripped off like seven or eight straight games because some of the games “were closer than they should have been” and I’d just sit and look at my phone and laugh.
Now imagine you strikeout in a big spot or boot a ground ball to blow the game and you open your phone up to death threats and thousands of people telling you how much you suck.
Thank God Twitter wasn’t around when Alex Gonzalez booted the ball in 2003.
And for those of you who fall under the “it comes with the territory” umbrella of people who think being bashed online is part of being a professional athlete, I’d like to remind you that nobody tweets at you about how mediocre you are at your job.
Can you imagine reading tweets from thousands of people ripping you because you forgot to put the files in the right drawer?
My guess is you’d probably delete Twitter as well.
